Alloys Preparation of Ag Particles/Islands on Si Wafer by RF Magnetron Sputtering

In order to investigate the morphology change of Ag nano-particles/island film with the sputtering time and annealing temperature,Ag nano-particles/island films were sputtered on the silicon wafers by radio-frequency(RF)magnetron sputtering.Ag nano-particles/islands films were sputtered on Si wafer with different time.After sputtering,the samples with Ag nano-particles/islands films were annealed at 100,200 and 400 o C for 1 h,respectively.Raman spectrum was employed to examine the phase stability of Ag particles/island film after annealed at 400 o C for 1h.The result showed that the Raman spectrum peak of Ag particles/island film with annealed at 400 o C was similar to that of pure Ag.Scanning electron microscope(SEM)was used to test the microstructures and morphology of the films with different condition.To further study the morphology change,atomic force microscope(AFM)was used to test surface morphology of the Ag particles/islands films.The SEM and AFM results showed that the morphology of Ag nano-particles/island films were different with the increasing sputtering time.Ag particles went through a dramatic change on the Si wafer surface,when sputtering time changed from 3 to 60 s,Ag particles diffused and agglomerated with the annealing temperature increasing.