Electrical discharge in a nanometer-sized air/water gap observed by atomic force microscopy.
Electrical discharge in a nanometer-sized air/water gap observed by atomic force microscopy.
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DOI：
10.1021/ja054225r
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发表时间：
2005-10
影响因子：
15
通讯作者：
X. Xie;H. Chung;C. Sow;K. Adamiak;A. Wee
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
X. Xie;H. Chung;C. Sow;K. Adamiak;A. Wee
我们报告了一种方法来启动和研究环境空气/水分子在纳米尺寸的间隙中的放电。我们的方法是基于一个典型的原子力显微镜（AFM）设置，在AFM探针和衬底之间可以配置一个<或= 5nm的圆柱形放电间隙。我们观察到高度局部化的随机纳米爆炸，其中放电概率由电场、材料特定表面反应和湿度决定。AFM结果结合边界元法（BEM）、有限元法（FEM）和特征法（MOC）模拟，进一步揭示了纳米尺度放电中瞬态激波的产生。激波锋面的传播极大地促进了电离粒子的径向膨胀，导致在选定的衬底上形成微尺度图案。我们的发现提供了对纳米级放电的初步理解，并可能与纳米/微结构、微电子和等离子体辅助沉积等一些应用相关。
We report a method to initiate and investigate electrical discharges of ambient air/water molecules in a nanometer-sized gap. Our methodology is based on a typical atomic force microscopy (AFM) setup, in which a cylinder discharge gap of < or =5 nm could be configured between the AFM probe and substrate. We observed highly localized stochastic nanoexplosions in which the discharge probability is dominated by the electric field, material-specific surface reactions, and humidity. AFM results, coupled with the boundary element method (BEM), finite element method (FEM), and method of characteristics (MOC) simulations, further revealed the generation of transient shock waves in the nanoscale discharge. The propagation of shock fronts significantly facilitates the radial expansion of the ionized particles, leading to the formation of microscale patterns on selected substrates. Our findings provide an initial understanding of nanoscale discharge and could be relevant to a few applications including nano/microstructuring, microelectronics, and plasma-assisted depositions.