Characterization of Electron-Beam-Induced Silver Deposition from Liquid Phase

Abstract

ABSTRACTElectron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) using gas-phase precursor molecules is an extensively studied fabrication technique. Liquid-phase metal deposition has recently been shown to achieve higher purity levels than traditional gas-phase deposition [1]. The goal of this investigation was to characterize liquid-phase silver deposition for further studies in photonics. A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) (FEI Nova 600 NanoLab Dual Beam) was used to deposit silver on polyimide membranes from aqueous AgNO3 solution by accelerating electrons into the solution for silver ion reduction. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and SEM were subsequently used to characterize the size dependence to electron dosage. We observed granular silver deposits with sub-75 nm particle size and 200-250 nm total aggregate diameters. The CASINO (monte CArlo SImulation of electroN trajectory in sOlids) program was used to model electron trajectory in the solution to relate the size to the electron spread.