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Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres

Received: 4 November 2015     Accepted: 13 November 2015     Published: 26 November 2015
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Abstract

This study aims at investigating the influence of gas atmospheres on the dewetting properties of DC sputtered and rapid thermally annealed silver (Ag) nanofilms. The annealing temperature ranged from 400℃ to 600℃ and the gases studied were argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) were employed for morphological studies, while the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was applied in the structural analysis of the films. The SEM and top-view FIB-SEM images of Ag films annealed in both atmospheres were characterized by irregular shaped holes. At fixed temperature, the films annealed in the N2 atmospheres gave higher hole density and larger hole sizes than the film annealed in the Ar atmosphere. Additionally, the hole density decreased with the annealing time. For films annealed in the N2 atmosphere, isolated dewetted particles were only obtained at 600℃ substrate temperature. The XRD patterns of all the films were characterized by Ag metallic peaks. No significant difference was observed among the films’ crystal structures. The annealing atmospheres mainly influences the morphologies of Ag nanofilms.

Published in American Journal of Nano Research and Applications (Volume 3, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12
Page(s) 99-104
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2015. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ag, Dewetting, Annealing Atmosphere, FIB

References
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[4] Anna Kosinova, Oleg Covalenko, Leonid Klinger and Eugen Rabkin, (2015), Acta Materialia, 83, 91-101.
[5] S. K. Sharma and J. Spitz, (1980), Thin Solid Films, 65, 339-350.
[6] S. K. Sharma, S. V. M Rao and N. Kumar, (1986), Thin Solid Films, 142, L95- L98.
[7] Jongpil Ye, (2014), Appl. Phys. Express, 7, 085601.
[8] A. Herz, D. Wang, Th. Kups and P. Schaaf, J. Appl. Phys., (2014), 116, 044307.
[9] Satoko Kuwano-Nakatani, Takeshi Fujita, Kazuki Uchisawa, Daichi Umetsu, Yu Kase, Yusuke Kowata, Katsuhiko Chiba, Tomoharu Tokunaga, Shigeo Arai, Yuta Yamamoto, Nobuo Tanaka and Mingwei Chen, (2015), Materials Transactions, 56, No. 4, pp. 468-472.
[10] http://www.webelements.com/
[11] X. H Yang, H. T. Fu, K. Wong, X. C Jiang, A. B. Yu, (2013), Nanotechnology, 24, 415601 (10 pp).
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  • APA Style

    P. D. Nsimama. (2015). Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres. American Journal of Nano Research and Applications, 3(6), 99-104. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12

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    ACS Style

    P. D. Nsimama. Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres. Am. J. Nano Res. Appl. 2015, 3(6), 99-104. doi: 10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12

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    AMA Style

    P. D. Nsimama. Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres. Am J Nano Res Appl. 2015;3(6):99-104. doi: 10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12,
      author = {P. D. Nsimama},
      title = {Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres},
      journal = {American Journal of Nano Research and Applications},
      volume = {3},
      number = {6},
      pages = {99-104},
      doi = {10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.nano.20150306.12},
      abstract = {This study aims at investigating the influence of gas atmospheres on the dewetting properties of DC sputtered and rapid thermally annealed silver (Ag) nanofilms. The annealing temperature ranged from 400℃ to 600℃ and the gases studied were argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) were employed for morphological studies, while the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was applied in the structural analysis of the films. The SEM and top-view FIB-SEM images of Ag films annealed in both atmospheres were characterized by irregular shaped holes. At fixed temperature, the films annealed in the N2 atmospheres gave higher hole density and larger hole sizes than the film annealed in the Ar atmosphere. Additionally, the hole density decreased with the annealing time. For films annealed in the N2 atmosphere, isolated dewetted particles were only obtained at 600℃ substrate temperature. The XRD patterns of all the films were characterized by Ag metallic peaks. No significant difference was observed among the films’ crystal structures. The annealing atmospheres mainly influences the morphologies of Ag nanofilms.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Morphological and Structural Properties of Silver Nanofilms Annealed by RTP in Different Atmospheres
    AU  - P. D. Nsimama
    Y1  - 2015/11/26
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12
    T2  - American Journal of Nano Research and Applications
    JF  - American Journal of Nano Research and Applications
    JO  - American Journal of Nano Research and Applications
    SP  - 99
    EP  - 104
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-3738
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.nano.20150306.12
    AB  - This study aims at investigating the influence of gas atmospheres on the dewetting properties of DC sputtered and rapid thermally annealed silver (Ag) nanofilms. The annealing temperature ranged from 400℃ to 600℃ and the gases studied were argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) were employed for morphological studies, while the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was applied in the structural analysis of the films. The SEM and top-view FIB-SEM images of Ag films annealed in both atmospheres were characterized by irregular shaped holes. At fixed temperature, the films annealed in the N2 atmospheres gave higher hole density and larger hole sizes than the film annealed in the Ar atmosphere. Additionally, the hole density decreased with the annealing time. For films annealed in the N2 atmosphere, isolated dewetted particles were only obtained at 600℃ substrate temperature. The XRD patterns of all the films were characterized by Ag metallic peaks. No significant difference was observed among the films’ crystal structures. The annealing atmospheres mainly influences the morphologies of Ag nanofilms.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 6
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Dar Es Salaam Institute of Technology, Department of Science and Laboratory Technology, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

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