Gold nanostructuring on Si substrate by selective electroless deposition

Abstract

Gold deposition on Si(111) substrates has been carried out by electroless process from KAuCl₄ in a fluorinated solution and the resulting nanostructures have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Deposition carried out under normal plating conditions produces an Au film with (111) orientation. The effect of additives such as poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA) to the plating solution has been examined. While PVP induces amorphous deposition, MUA gives rise to flat (111) oriented islands. In order to produce individual nanostructures, we made use of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) as a masking agent and carried out electroless deposition with an intermittent dip in OTS. By varying the durations of dip in the two solutions, various Au nanostructures—islands, cellular networks, and nanowires are obtained.