title: Spontaneous ordering of oxide nanostructures
abstract: We report the spontaneous formation of uniformly distributed arrays of "tips" (tall conical hillocks) upon oxidation of palladium (Pd) thin films. The formation of the palladium oxide tips depended on the thickness and granularity of the Pd film and on annealing and oxidation conditions. As the Pd film thickness increased from 40 to 200 nanometers, the average height of the tips increased from 0.5 to 1.2 micrometers, their height distribution became broader, and their density decreased from 55 x 10(6) to 12 x 10(6) per square centimeter. Enhanced photoelectron emission from locations corresponding to the tips suggests their possible use in field emission applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials and Nuclear Engineering, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. Flat Panel Display Division, Motorola Inc., 7700 South River Parkway, Tempe, AZ 85284, USA.
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Monga
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Perusse
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ramesh
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ballarotto
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Chalamala
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Reuss