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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 86 » Issue 1
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 99–102 (2001)

Ion Beam “Photography”: Decoupling Nucleation and Growth of Metal Clusters in Glass

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E. Valentin1,2, H. Bernas1,*, C. Ricolleau3, and F. Creuzet4
1Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse, 91405-Orsay, France
2Laboratoire CNRS/Saint-Gobain, 93303-Aubervilliers, France
3Laboratoire de Minéralogie et de Cristallographie de Paris, 75252-Paris, France
4Fontainebleau Research Center, Corning S.A., 77210-Avon, France

Received 3 March 2000; revised 31 August 2000; published in the issue dated 1 January 2001

We demonstrate that room temperature MeV ion irradiation of a glass containing copper oxide initiates nucleation of pure Cu clusters via the inelastic “electronic” component of the ion energy loss, when the latter is above a threshold value. The clusters grow under subsequent thermal annealing, following Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner kinetics. The decoupling of nucleation and growth is analogous to that occurring in the photographic process. It allows total control over the cluster density, average size, and size distribution.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.99
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.99
PACS:
61.80.Jh, 61.46.+w, 61.72.Qq, 79.20.Rf

*Electronic address: bernas@csnsm.in2p3.fr

 
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