Self-organized carbon connections between catalyst particles on a silicon surface exposed to atmospheric-pressure Ar + CH4 microplasmas

Ag nanoparticles and Fe-coated Si micrograins were separately deposited onto Si(1 0 0) surfaces and then exposed to an Ar + CH4 microplasma at atmospheric pressure. For the Ag nanoparticles, self-organized carbon nanowires, up to 400 nm in length were produced, whereas for the Fe-coated Si micrograins carbon connections with the length up to 100mu m were synthesized on the plasma-exposed surface area of about 0.5 mm(2). The experiment has revealed that long carbon connections and short nanowires demonstrate quite similar behavior and structure. While most connections/nanowires tended to link the nearest particles, some wires were found to `dissolve' into the substrate without terminatingat the second particle. Both connections and nanowires are mostly linear, but long carbon connections can form kinks which were not observed in the carbon nanowire networks. A growth scenario explaining the carbon structure nucleation and growth is proposed. Multiscale numerical simulations reveal that the electric field pattern around the growing connections/nanowires strongly affects the surface diffusion of carbon adatoms, the main driving force for the observed self-organization in the system. The results suggest that themicroplasma-generated surface charges can be. used as effective controls for the self-organized formation of complex carbon-based nano-networks for integrated nanodevices. Crown Copyright (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[1]  J. Pelz,et al.  Anisotropy of mass transport on Si(0 0 1) surfaces heated with direct current , 2001 .

[2]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Nanostructures of various dimensionalities from plasma and neutral fluxes , 2007 .

[3]  K. Ostrikov,et al.  The path to stoichiometric composition of III–V binary quantum dots through plasma/ion-assisted self-assembly , 2009 .

[4]  Henrik Lindström,et al.  Monoclinic β-MoO(3) nanosheets produced by atmospheric microplasma: application to lithium-ion batteries. , 2008, Nanotechnology.

[5]  Davide Mariotti,et al.  The production of self-organized carbon connections between Ag nanoparticles using atmospheric microplasma synthesis , 2009 .

[6]  N. Itoh,et al.  ENERGIES FOR ATOMIC EMISSIONS FROM DEFECT SITES ON THE SI SURFACES : THE EFFECTS OF HALOGEN ADSORBATES , 1994 .

[7]  Davide Mariotti,et al.  Self-organized nanostructures on atmospheric microplasma exposed surfaces , 2007 .

[8]  Kostya Ostrikov,et al.  Colloquium: Reactive plasmas as a versatile nanofabrication tool , 2005 .

[9]  Michael Keidar,et al.  Microscopic ion fluxes in plasma-aided nanofabrication of ordered carbon nanotip structures , 2005 .

[10]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Simulation of island behavior in discontinuous film growth , 2003 .

[11]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Self-organized nanoarrays: Plasma-related controls , 2008 .

[12]  A. Nasibulin,et al.  The role of metal nanoparticles in the catalytic production of single-walled carbon nanotubes—a review , 2003 .

[13]  K. Novoselov,et al.  Control of Graphene's Properties by Reversible Hydrogenation: Evidence for Graphane , 2008, Science.

[14]  Shuyan Xu,et al.  Self-assembly of uniform carbon nanotip structures in chemically active inductively coupled plasmas , 2004 .

[15]  Michael Keidar,et al.  On the conditions of carbon nanotube growth in the arc discharge , 2004 .

[16]  Davide Mariotti,et al.  Plasma-driven self-organization of Ni nanodot arrays on Si(100) , 2008 .

[17]  W. Seifert,et al.  Diameter-dependent growth rate of InAs nanowires , 2007 .

[18]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Plasma-assisted self-organized growth of uniform carbon nanocone arrays , 2007 .

[19]  S. Xu,et al.  In situ catalyzation of carbon nanostructures growth in low-frequency inductively coupled plasmas , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.

[20]  Weiyou Chen,et al.  Using the tensile stress field to control quantum dot arrangements , 1999 .

[21]  B. Swartzentruber,et al.  Electric field effects on surface dynamics: Si ad-dimer diffusion and rotation on Si(001) , 2003 .

[22]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Uniformity of postprocessing of dense nanotube arrays by neutral and ion fluxes , 2006 .

[23]  Y. Suda,et al.  Effects of hydrogen on carbon nanotube formation in CH4/H2 plasmas , 2007 .

[24]  K. Ostrikov,et al.  Self-assembled low-dimensional nanomaterials via low-temperature plasma processing , 2008 .

[25]  K. Ostrikov,et al.  Carbon saturation of arrays of Ni catalyst nanoparticles of different size and pattern uniformity on a silicon substrate , 2008, Nanotechnology.

[26]  T. Kyotani,et al.  Template synthesis of novel porous carbons using various types of zeolites , 2003 .

[27]  Michael Keidar,et al.  Current-driven ignition of single-wall carbon nanotubes , 2006 .

[28]  Miran Mozetic,et al.  Nanowire sensor response to reactive gas environment , 2008 .

[29]  Kellogg Gl.  Electric field inhibition and promotion of exchange diffusion on Pt(001). , 1993 .

[30]  Anthony B. Murphy,et al.  Plasma-deposited Ge nanoisland films on Si: is Stranski–Krastanow fragmentation unavoidable? , 2008 .

[31]  S. Kodambaka,et al.  Kinetics of Individual Nucleation Events Observed in Nanoscale Vapor-Liquid-Solid Growth , 2008, Science.

[32]  V. Dubrovskii,et al.  Growth rate of a crystal facet of arbitrary size and growth kinetics of vertical nanowires. , 2004, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[33]  R M Westervelt,et al.  Graphene Nanoelectronics , 2008, Science.

[34]  M. Lagally,et al.  KINETICS, DYNAMICS AND MUTUAL INTERACTIONS OF DEFECTS ON Si(001) , 1996 .

[35]  M. Keidar,et al.  Voltage-current characteristics of an anodic arc producing carbon nanotubes , 2008 .

[36]  David J. Srolovitz,et al.  ON THE STABILITY OF SURFACES OF STRESSED SOLIDS , 1989 .

[37]  J. D. Long,et al.  Plasma-assisted self-sharpening of platelet-structured single-crystalline carbon nanocones , 2007 .

[38]  Masaru Hori,et al.  Fabrication of vertically aligned carbon nanowalls using capacitively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition assisted by hydrogen radical injection , 2004 .

[39]  Kandel,et al.  Microscopic theory of electromigration on semiconductor surfaces. , 1996, Physical review letters.

[40]  Y. Suda,et al.  Predicting the amount of carbon in carbon nanotubes grown by CH4 rf plasmas , 2006 .

[41]  T. Kawai,et al.  Diffusion of a Si adatom on the Si(100) surface in an electric field , 1996 .

[42]  Kun-Hong Lee,et al.  Template-based carbon nanotubes and their application to a field emitter , 2001 .

[43]  N. Koshizaki,et al.  Au/SiO2 nanocomposite film substrates with a high number density of Au nanoparticles for molecular conductance measurement , 2007 .

[44]  N. A. Azarenkov,et al.  Inductively coupled Ar/CH₄/H₂plasmas for low-temperature deposition of ordered carbon nanostructures , 2004 .

[45]  Kobayashi,et al.  Spatially anisotropic atom extraction around defects on Si(001) using a STM. , 1994, Physical review. B, Condensed matter.

[46]  Igor Levchenko,et al.  Control of core-shell structure and elemental composition of binary quantum dots , 2007 .

[47]  K. Ostrikov.  Reactive plasmas as a versatile nanofabrication tool , 2005 .