Effects of different substrate materials on synthesis of Cu nanoparticles

We discuss about the controlled self-assembled synthesis of metallic Cu nanoparticles on different substrates such as glass, Al2O3 and SiO2 at room temperature by the dc magnetron sputtering technique. Deposits have been made using Cu cylindrical target for a 2 m Torr Argon sputtering. After deposition, the films were annealed using oven at 400 degrees C for 10 min to induce the nucleation and growth of Cu nanoparticles. The average primary grain size of the materials thus synthesized could be controlled by proper choice of process parameters (the pressure of the sputtering gas, applied power, substrate material, annealing time and temperature). AFM and SEM/EDX were both applied to characterize the nanostructures of Cu nanoparticles in this study. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.