Formation and dissolution of copper-based nanoparticles in SiO2 sol-gel film using heat treatment and/or UV light exposure

    Authors

    J. Massera; J. Choi; L. Petit; M. Richardson; Y. Obeng;K. Richardson

    Comments

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    Abstract

    We report in this paper, results on the formation and dissolution of Cu-based nanoparticles in sol-gel SiO2 thin films using heat treatment and UV light exposure, respectively. Using UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, we have shown that Cu2O nanoparticles can be generated by controlling the aging of the sol prior to film deposition while the Cu-0 nanoparticles can be synthesized using a heat treatment in H-2 atmosphere at 550 degrees C for 6 h. It has been also demonstrated that irradiation with an UV pulsed (Q-switched Nd:YAG) or continuous black ray UV lamp can dissolve these Cu-based nanoparticles with controlled, spatial selectivity. The mechanism of the dissolution process was found to be mainly thermal. Finally, we report a new analytical technique for detecting/confirming the presence of low densities of Cu nanoparticles in the films, based on a relative heat flow measurement of such films using a micro-thermal analyzer (e.g., TA Instruments mu TA model 2990). (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Materials Research Bulletin

    Volume

    43

    Issue/Number

    11

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    First Page

    3130

    Last Page

    3139

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000260292400034

    ISSN

    0025-5408

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