Morphology and structure of the self assembled Ag nanodots on undoped Si(100) under ambient conditions

Self assembly is an important bottom up design approach in making nanostructures on substrate. Therefore understanding the self assembly mechanisms is very important. Morphology and structure of the self assembled of Ag nano dots via sputter deposition on the chemically cleaned ambient undoped si(100) wafer at RT ($\sim $300K) is observed via contact mode Atomic Force Microcopy (AFM). At a Ag coverage of $\sim $60ML nucleation of the nanodots were seen, implying StranskiKrastanov growth mode. At a coverage of $\sim $120ML the self assembled nanodots are clearly seen. These nanodots are observed to have $\sim $40nm in width and $\sim $10nm in height. At increase Ag coverage ($\sim $120ML and $\sim $180ML) it is observed the number density of Ag nanodots increase in lock step. Higher the coverage size characteristics observed to show a higher variance. When annealed at successively higher temperatures ($\sim $373K, $\sim $473K, $\sim $573K) for an interval of 5min the structures seem to dissolve, implying kinetically limited growth. Conductivity measurements on these nanostructures will also be discussed.