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Influence of Oxygen Exposure on the Nucleation of Platinum Atomic Layer Deposition: Consequences for Film Growth, Nanopatterning, and Nanoparticle Synthesis
journal contribution
posted on 2016-02-19, 09:02 authored by Adriaan J. M. Mackus, Marcel A. Verheijen, Noémi Leick, Ageeth
A. Bol, Wilhelmus M. M. KesselsControl of the nucleation behavior
during atomic layer deposition
(ALD) of metals is of great importance for the deposition of metallic
thin films and nanoparticles, and for nanopatterning applications.
In this work it is established for Pt ALD, that the exposure to O2 during the O2 pulse of the ALD process is the
key parameter controlling the nucleation behavior. The O2 dependence of the Pt nucleation is explained by the enhanced diffusion
of Pt species in the presence of oxygen, and the resulting faster
aggregation of Pt atoms in metal clusters that catalyze the surface
reactions of ALD growth. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the O2 exposure can be used as the parameter to tune the nucleation
to enable (i) deposition of ultrathin films with minimal nucleation
delay, (ii) preparation of single element or core/shell nanoparticles,
and (iii) nanopatterning of metallic structures based on area-selective
deposition.