Electrical characterization of gold island films: A route to control of nanoparticle deposition

The evaporation of gold onto SiN or SiOx leads to the formation of nanoscale islands separated by tunneling barriers. As the deposited thickness of Au increases, there is a linear increase in island size and an exponential decrease in film resistance, resulting from coalescence of neighboring islands. This understanding of film morphology allows the construction of a simple model of film resistivity. The model also accounts for the exponential decrease of resistance observed during deposition of Pd nanoparticles onto Au island films. The results suggest the use of discontinuous Au island films as a sensitive way of controlling nanoparticle deposition.