AVS 47th International Symposium
    Thin Films Friday Sessions
       Session TF+NS-FrM

Invited Paper TF+NS-FrM5
Deposition of Nanoparticles on Metal Surfaces

Friday, October 6, 2000, 9:40 am, Room 203

Session: Nanostructured Thin Films
Presenter: R.S. Averback, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Authors: R.S. Averback, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
J.M. Gibson, Argonne National Laboratory
K. Albe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
C. Zimmermann, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Y. Ashkenazy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M. Yeadon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Correspondent: Click to Email
The deposition of metallic nanoparticles on surfaces has been investigated by a combination of molecular dynamics computer simulations and in situ transmission electron microscopy. It was observed that the reaction kinetics were dominated by a combination of interfacial stresses associated with epitaxy and capillary forces deriving from surface roughness. For Cu and Ag nanoparticles, it was found that the interfacial stresses led to 'contact epitaxy,' whereby the first few layers of the nanoparticles came into registry with the Cu(100) surface. Below a critical size, about 4 nm, the entire nanoparticle became epitaxial. For Co nanoparticles, which are more refractory and do not wet Cu(100) and Ag(100), contact epitaxy was not observed, although for deposition at 500 K, the nanoparticles burrowed into the substrate to achieve smoothing and coherency. Additional work examined how nanoparticles and grains in thin films respond to applied stresses. It will be shown that small particles on surfaces slide with little friction when they form a high energy grain boundaries, but that they quickly reorient during sliding and become locked from additional motion.