Abstract
We report results relating to the thermal stability of nanoparticles and show a remarkable effect of nanostructuring of the metal. Au films are nanostructured by focused ion beam sputtering (FIB) to produce isolated areas of metal, which are imaged by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Images of the surface show that, if the islands are made small enough, the metal in the islands is lost by evaporation, whereas the nonfabricated areas outside are relatively stable and the nanoparticles remain present there.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2228-2232 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | ACS Nano |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 5 Mar 2010 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 27 Apr 2010 |
Keywords
- thermal stability of nanoparticles
- nanoparticle imaging
- gold nanoparticles
- AFM
- nanostructured gold films
- FIB
- vaporization