title: Self-assembled pit arrays as templates for the integration of Au nanocrystals in oxide surfaces.
abstract: We report on the fabrication of long-range ordered arrays of Au nanocrystals (sub-50 nm range) on top of manganite (La(2/3)Sr(1/3)MnO(3)) thin films achieving area densities around 2 × 10(10) gold nanocrystals per cm(2), well above the densities achievable by using conventional nanofabrication techniques. The gold-manganite interface exhibits excellent conduction properties. Long-range order is achieved by a guided self-assembling process of Au nanocrystals on self-organized pit-arrays acting as a template for the nucleation of gold nanocrystals. Self-organization of pits on the manganite film surface promoted by the underlying stepped SrTiO(3) substrate is achieved by a fine tuning of the growth kinetic pathway, taking advantage of the unusual misfit strain relaxation behaviour of manganite films.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, CSIC, Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain. zorica@icmab.es
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Konstantinović
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sandiumenge
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santiso
authors.forename: Ll
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balcells
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Martínez
mesh_terms: D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D017895:Manganese Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D008422:Materials Testing; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D054802:Molecular Imprinting / Q000379:methods*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D017895:Manganese Compounds; D010087:Oxides; C494384:manganite; D006046:Gold