In-situ investigations of condensation, nucleation and growth of metal films and nanostructures on organic surfaces during sputter deposition

虽然在聚合物上溅射金属涂层是公认的，但由于沉积过程的复杂性，早期沉积阶段仍然没有很好地理解。然而，特别是亚单层政权与其瞬态的2D纳米颗粒和分枝结构是非常感兴趣的主机的新兴应用，从等离子体激元通过传感器到有机photopolics。这些应用需要在形成封闭膜之前精确控制和了解聚合物表面上亚单层金属纳米结构的溅射沉积。在本供资期内，在同步辐射源PETRA III的MiNaXS/P03仪器上，在专门设计的移动的溅射室中，通过掠入射小角散射（GISAXS），以高的空间和时间分辨率，对选定的金属-聚合物系统的早期沉积阶段进行了真实的实时监测。独特的结果，结合建模和各种其他原位和非原位技术以及计算机模拟，提供了深刻的理解亚单层溅射沉积。在第二个资助期内，将研究更复杂的工艺，如沉积2D纳米颗粒金属合金薄膜和溅射到嵌段共聚物薄膜上。对于纳米级金属合金结构，预期与体相图的显著偏差。这将阿利亚允许在生长的复杂纳米结构中原位观察相分离。嵌段共聚物基底将产生定制的纳米结构，因为它们涉及在不同的可定制长度尺度上在其中一个嵌段上的选择性润湿和成核。在稍后的阶段，掠射角沉积将提供另一个令人兴奋的研究课题。

While sputtering of metal coatings on polymers is well established, the early deposition stages are still not well understood due to the complex nature of the deposition process. However, particularly the sub-monolayer regime with its transient 2D nanogranular and ramified structures is of great interest for hosts of emerging applications ranging from plasmonics through sensors to organic photovoltaics. These applications require precise control and understanding of the sputter deposition of sub-monolayer metallic nanostructures on polymer surfaces prior to the formation of a closed film. In the current funding period, the early deposition stages were monitored for selected metal-polymer systems in real time with high special and temporal resolution by means of grazing incidence small angle scattering (GISAXS) in a specially designed mobile sputter chamber at the MiNaXS/P03 instrument of the synchrotron radiation source PETRAIII. The unique results, combined with modelling and various other in situ and ex-situ techniques as well as computer simulations have provided a profound understanding of sub-monolayer sputter deposition. In the 2nd funding period, even more complex processes such as deposition of 2D nanogranular metal alloy films and sputtering onto block copolymer films will be studied. For nanoscale metal alloy structures, marked deviations from bulk phase diagrams are to be expected. This will inter alia allow in-situ observation of phase separation in growing complex nanostructures. Block copolymer substrates will give rise to tailored nanostructures, because they involve selective wetting and nucleation on one of the blocks at different tailorable length scales. At a later stage, glancing-angle deposition will provide another exciting subject of investigation.