Migration-coalescence of Nanoparticles During Deposition of Au,Ag, Cu,and GaAs on Amorphous SiO2

Nanoparticles formed during the initial period of film growth can migrate, coalesce, and may also melt. Nanoparticles of Au, Ag, Cu, and GaAs ranging from 1 to 15nm in diameter were sputter-deposited on amorphous SiO₂ (a-SiO₂). Transmission electron microscopy was used to analyze the time-dependent change of the dispersion of particles on a thin film. The number density of nanoparticles was nearly constant during the deposition of Ag. For Au, Cu, and GaAs, however, the number density decreased with time during the early deposition period. For example, for Au the number density decreased from 2.8×10¹⁶m^–2 (surface coverage ratio of 0.08) to 1.8×10¹⁶m^–2 (surface coverage ratio of 0.14). The surface coverage increased because the particle size increased as the number density decreased. This decrease suggests that migration followed by coalescence occurred. For Au, although we found evidence of migration of 2-nm particles at 500°C, the migration rate was too slow to account for the results from the deposition experiments. These observations indicate an autocatalytic mechanism that migration followed by coalescence liberates energy by the formation of chemical bonds, heats the coalesced particles, and enhances further migration. The strong dependence of the structure of nanoparticle dispersions on the deposition rate is a direct consequence of the deposition mechanism, which is a nonlinear, kinetically-controlled process.