Monitoring morphological and chemical properties during silver solid-state dewetting

Abstract

Solid-state dewetting phenomenon in silver thin films offers a straightforward method to obtain structures having controlled shape or size-this latter in principle spanning several orders of magnitudes-with potentially strong interest in many applications involving high-tech industry and biomedicine. In this work nanostructured silver is deposited by pulsed electron ablation technique and its surface modified upon thermal treatments in air at increasing temperatures. Surface chemistry and morphology are then monitored simultaneously by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy; in particular, the power spectral density of surface heights is used to analyze the alteration of morphology induced by annealing. It is shown that this approach adds a level of information about the dewetting process since it allows to separate between long-and short-range surface behavior and to retrieve statistical quantities relevant to a description of the features in view of applications. Our results are presented in the framework of a multidisciplinary approach, advantages and limits of which are deepened and discussed.

In Vitro Biological Characterization of Silver-Doped Anodic Oxide Coating on Titanium

“…On the basis of the obtained results analysis and previous investigations, we can conclude that, after the PEO process, an oxide layer composed of titanium oxide and calcium phosphates was formed [ 41 ]. In the case of process conducted in the AgNP electrolytes, the oxide layer was enriched in silver, which was in the form of oxide [ 28 , 42 , 43 ]. Numerous data demonstrate the antibacterial effect of AgNPs incorporated into PEO coatings, but in most studies, AgNP use decreased the biocompatibility of implants [ 24 , 28 ].…”

Silver Nanoparticle Arrays onto Glass Substrates Obtained by Solid-State Thermal Dewetting: A Morphological, Structural and Surface Chemical Study

“…Moreover, and very importantly, in order to ensure the desired control of nanostructures, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of the fundamental microscopic mechanisms that govern the processes used in these approaches [4,28,31,32]. Several techniques have been reported for the production of microand nanoscale metallic particles arrays supported onto a solid substrate, including spray pyrolysis [33,34], sol-gel [35], electroless metal deposition [34], electrodeposition [34], and solid-state dewetting (SSD) [4,25,[36][37][38][39][40].…”

Phase Diagram of In–Pb Alloy in Condensed Films

“…Diffusion in the liquid phase may be faster, but as a result of the melting (and in the thin layers, it occurs earlier), the film breaks into separate isolated droplets; the sizes of which are several times bigger than the film thickness. [22][23][24][25] It is clear, that in a film consisting of liquid-isolated particles, there will be no violation of the initial distribution of the substance along the concentration gradient.…”