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Article Dans Une Revue Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A Année : 2020

Manipulation of thin silver film growth on weakly interacting silicon dioxide substrates using oxygen as a surfactant

Résumé

The authors study the morphological evolution of magnetron-sputtered thin silver (Ag) films that are deposited on weakly interacting silicon dioxide (SiO2) substrates in an oxygen-containing (O2) gas atmosphere. In situ and real-time monitoring of electrically conductive layers, along with ex situ microstructural analyses, shows that the presence of O2, throughout all film-formation stages, leads to a more pronounced two-dimensional (2D) morphology, smoother film surfaces, and larger continuous-layer electrical resistivities, as compared to Ag films grown in pure argon (Ar) ambient. In addition, the authors’ data demonstrate that 2D morphology can be promoted, without compromising the Ag-layer electrical conductivity, if O2 is deployed with high temporal precision to target film formation stages before the formation of a percolated layer. Detailed real-space imaging of discontinuous films, augmented by in situ growth monitoring data, suggests that O2 favors 2D morphology by affecting the kinetics of initial film-formation stages and most notably by decreasing the rate of island coalescence completion. Furthermore, compositional and bonding analyses show that O2 does not change the chemical nature of the Ag layers and no atomic oxygen is detected in the films, i.e., O2 acts as a surfactant. The overall results of this study are relevant for developing noninvasive surfactant-based strategies for manipulating noble-metal-layer growth on technologically relevant weakly interacting substrates, including graphene and other 2D crystals.

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Dates et versions

hal-03678776 , version 1 (25-05-2022)

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Citer

Nikolaos Pliatsikas, Andreas Jamnig, Martin Konpan, Andreas Delimitis, Gregory Abadias, et al.. Manipulation of thin silver film growth on weakly interacting silicon dioxide substrates using oxygen as a surfactant. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, 2020, 38 (4), pp.043406. ⟨10.1116/6.0000244⟩. ⟨hal-03678776⟩
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