Spontaneous organization of columnar nanoparticles inFe−BNnanocomposite films

Using ion beams to tune the nanostructure and optical response of co-deposited Ag : BN thin films

“…Quantitative analysis of the GISAXS patterns also shows that the addition of argon ions to the nitrogen assistance beam leads to an increase in the height-to-diameter ratio and in-plane separation of the clusters, and to a narrowing of the diameter distribution. These results underline the crucial influence of the 50 eV assistance beam on the growth of the cosputtered Ag : BN layers: heavy species (such as argon) enables an enhancement of the energy transfer from the assistance beam to the growing layer surface [25]. Surface diffusion of deposited silver atoms is consequently increased.…”

“…Then, because of the low value of the ratio between deposition rates of silver and dielectric material, the space between growing silver clusters is quickly filled with dielectric species. Consequently, silver atoms incoming onto the growing clusters are more likely trapped by their top face than by their lateral faces, leading to a columnar growth [25]. Let us note that trapping of deposited silver atoms (presenting a too low kinetic energy) at the surface of the dielectric material between columnar clusters is also possible and leads to the formation of new silver nuclei to the detriment of the columnar growth of already existing clusters.…”

“…These results underline the necessity of controlling the growth kinetics of the metastable nanocermets in order to tailor their structure and therefore their optical response. Although some nice results concerning the control of the H/D ratio of prolate noble metal clusters and of the spectral position of the SPR modes can be found in the literature in the case of thin films grown by physical techniques [25][26][27][28], only a few results have been reported up to now concerning nanocermets elaborated by co-deposition of metal and dielectric species. The aim of this paper is therefore to go further into the control of the morphology of Ag clusters embedded within a BN matrix using a co-deposition process.…”

Structural study of nanoporous ultra low-k dielectrics using complementary techniques: Ellipsometric porosimetry, X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering

“…This has been made through an Igor@ application using the formalism described in Refs. [13][14][15][16]. To be able to correct thoroughly the data, the optical coefficients a, b and the thickness obtained from ellipsometry and XRR measurements were introduced in the model, by assuming a molar mass twice the number of electrons, an approximation valid for light elements.…”

“…The GISAXS technique is in rapid expansion following the one of nanotechnologies. They tackle different fields in hard condensed matter such as superficial dots (metallic or quantum dots) [11,12], implanted defects such as He bubbles for silicium purification [13,14] or codeposited nitride-metal layers for their optical and magnetic properties [15,16]. The structural information's by GISAXS on ULK films is exploding, as witnessed by the numerous contributions on GISAXS in the last ''SAS2006'' conference proceedings [17].…”