title: Systematic Control of Self-Assembled Au Nanoparticles and Nanostructures Through the Variation of Deposition Amount, Annealing Duration, and Temperature on Si (111).
abstract: The size, density, and configurations of Au nanoparticles (NPs) can play important roles in controlling the electron mobility, light absorption, and localized surface plasmon resonance, and further in the Au NP-assisted nanostructure fabrications. In this study, we present a systematical investigation on the evolution of Au NPs and nanostructures on Si (111) by controlling the deposition amount (DA), annealing temperature (AT), and dwelling time (DT). Under an identical growth condition, the morphologies of Au NPs and nanostructures drastically evolve when the DA is only slightly varied, based on the Volmer-Weber and coalescence models: i.e. I: mini NPs, II: mid-sized round dome-shaped Au NPs, III: large Au NPs, and IV: coalesced nanostructures. With the AT control, three distinctive ranges are observed: i.e., NP nucleation, Au NPs maturation and melting. The gradual dimensional expansion of Au NPs is always compensated with the density reduction, which is explained with the thermodynamic theory. The DT effect is relatively minor on Au NPs, a sharp contrast to other metallic NPs, which is discussed based on the Ostwald-ripening.
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ming-Yu
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Mao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sui
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Puran
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pandey
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Quanzhen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Soo
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Electronics and Information, Kwangwoon University, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 139-701, South Korea. jihoonlee@kw.ac.kr.|Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA. jihoonlee@kw.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Jihoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Annealing duration; Annealing temperature; Au nanoparticles; Deposition amount; Ostwald-ripening; Self-assembled; Si (111); Volmer-Weber model