Heat-induced morphological changes in silver nanowires deposited on a patterned silicon substrate

Elyad Damerchi; Sven Oras; Edgars Butanovs; Allar Liivlaid; Mikk Antsov; Boris Polyakov; Annamarija Trausa; Veronika Zadin; Andreas Kyritsakis; Loïc Vidal; Karine Mougin; Siim Pikker; Sergei Vlassov

doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.39

Heat-induced morphological changes in silver nanowires deposited on a patterned silicon substrate

Beilstein J Nanotechnol. 2024 Apr 22:15:435-446. doi: 10.3762/bjnano.15.39. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Nooruse 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.
² Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, Kengaraga 8, LV-1063 Riga, Latvia.
³ Estonian Military Academy, Riia 12, 51010 Tartu, Estonia.
⁴ Institute of Materials Science of Mulhouse, CNRS - UMR 7361, University of Haute-Alsace, France.
⁵ Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, W. Ostwaldi 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.

Abstract

Metallic nanowires (NWs) are sensitive to heat treatment and can split into shorter fragments within minutes at temperatures far below the melting point. This process can hinder the functioning of NW-based devices that are subject to relatively mild temperatures. Commonly, heat-induced fragmentation of NWs is attributed to the interplay between heat-enhanced diffusion and Rayleigh instability. In this work, we demonstrated that contact with the substrate plays an important role in the fragmentation process and can strongly affect the outcome of the heat treatment. We deposited silver NWs onto specially patterned silicon wafers so that some NWs were partially suspended over the holes in the substrate. Then, we performed a series of heat-treatment experiments and found that adhered and suspended parts of NWs behave differently under the heat treatment. Moreover, depending on the heat-treatment process, fragmentation in either adhered or suspended parts can dominate. Experiments were supported by finite element method and molecular dynamics simulations.

Keywords: diffusion; finite element method; heat treatment; molecular dynamics simulations; morphological changes; scanning electron microscopy; silver nanowires.

Grants and funding

The work was funded by ERA Chair MATTER from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 856705, by the Estonian Research Council’s grant RVTT3, and by the European Regional Development Fund project Nr. 1.1.1.1/21/A/053 realized at the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia. The Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2. Characterization facilities at the University of Tartu were supported by the Center of nanomaterials technologies and research (NAMUR+) for core facility funded by project TT13. S.P. was supported by the Estonian Research Council’s grant PSG406.