Formation of Nanoparticles by Thin Film Dewetting

Abstract

Chapter 1 of this thesis describes the BLAG process, and the structural properties of the nanostructures produced by BLAG. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss specific applications of BLAG. Chapter 2 focuses on compound and elemental semiconductor nanostructures and quantum confinement effects in them. Chapter 3 discusses embedded non-magnetic nanoparticles in a magnetic matrix and the measurement of induced magnetism using polarized x-ray absorption spectroscopy. Chapters 4 and 5 extend the BLAG process to particles formed on metal films. Chapter 4 is devoted to the study of growth and embedding of nanoparticles in metal films. The embedding process is driven by differences in free energies between the two materials, and we show how competition between growth and embedding affects the size distributions, both experimentally and by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. Chapter 5 discusses the interaction between the embedded particles and the thin film during annealing. This interaction is important to understand the formation of nanostructures during dewetting and the effect of particles on dewetting.