Good Control of Spatial and Size Ordering of Fe Nanoparticles by Xe-Gas-Assisted Growth with a Seeding Layer

We demonstrate the fabrication of Fe nanoparticles with good spatial and size orderings by Xe-buffer-layer-assisted growth combined with a nanopatterned Au(111) surface. Fe nanoparticles of three atomic layers in height and 2.65 nm in diameter are fabricated by soft landing of Fe atoms on top of the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied physics express Vol. 6; no. 2; pp. 025501 - 025501-4
Main Authors Kuo, Chien-Cheng, Lin, Wen-Chin, Chang, Hung-Yu, Song, Ker-Jar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published The Japan Society of Applied Physics 01.02.2013
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:We demonstrate the fabrication of Fe nanoparticles with good spatial and size orderings by Xe-buffer-layer-assisted growth combined with a nanopatterned Au(111) surface. Fe nanoparticles of three atomic layers in height and 2.65 nm in diameter are fabricated by soft landing of Fe atoms on top of the predeposited nucleation seeds with the Xe-buffer-layer-assisted growth. This method is successfully used to control the nucleation toward the surface normal direction, whereby new deposited atoms are stacked on top of the existing ones to form taller nanoparticles, and is applicable to the growth of other nanostructures on various prepatterned surfaces.
Bibliography:STM-investigated topography of herringbone reconstruction on the clean Au(111) surface. The image was measured at 80 K with $V = -0.48$ V and $I = 0.55$ nA. Comparison of the nanoparticle formation for different growth recipes on Au(111) surface. (a) Topology image for 0.23 ML Fe grown on Au(111) at 300 K. The inset shows the topographic image for 1.20 ML Fe grown on Au(111) at 300 K. (b) Distribution of widths and heights for the nanoparticles observed in (a). (c, d) Topographic image and distribution for 0.20 ML Fe grown on Au(111) at 33 K. After growth, the sample was gradually heated to 300 K before STM measurement. (e) Schematic drawing of buffer-layer-assisted growth. (f, g) Topographic image and distribution for 0.24 ML Fe grown on Au(111) with the assistance of 16 L Xe buffer layer adsorbed at 33 K. Integration method of combining BLAG method with nucleation seeds on herringbone elbows. (a) Schematic drawing of this method. (b) Topographic image of 0.10 ML Fe grown as seeds on Au(111) at 250 K. (c) Topographic image after BLAG of 0.18 ML of Fe on Au(111) (16 L Xe absorbed at 33 K). (d) Height and width distributions for nucleation seeds [from (b)] for BLAG method with [from (c)] and without [from Fig. (f)] seeds. (e) Catching probabilities with and without seeds. (f) and (g) are the relative populations of height and width of Fe on Au(111), respectively. Green bars represent those for nucleation seeds, black and red ones are those for BLAG with and without seeds. Controlling the ordering and size distribution of nanoparticles by repeating BLAG method on top of nucleation seeds. (a) Schematic drawing of the cyclic processes. (b) Topographic image for one cycle of BLAG (0.35 ML Fe) on 0.1-ML-Fe seeds ($100\times 70$ nm 2 , $V=0.74$ V, $I=0.71$ nA). (c) Topographic image for 4 cycles of BLAG (0.35 ML Fe for each cycle) on 0.1-ML-Fe seeds ($100\times 70$ nm 2 , $V=0.79$ V, $I=0.85$ nA, total Fe coverage = 15 ML). (d) The statistical size distribution of (c) (black circles) and (b) (red empty squares).
ISSN:1882-0778
1882-0786
DOI:10.7567/APEX.6.025501