Pulsed laser deposition of Au nanoparticles on ZnO nanostructures

Abstract Au nanoparticles and ultrathin gold films were obtained on the surface of thin (100 nm) ZnO films on Si (001) by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at high argon pressure by sputtering a pure gold target with a CL3100 pulsed excimer laser (λ = 248 nm) at room temperature. The dependence of the size and distribution of nanoparticles on the argon pressure in the vacuum chamber (PAr), the power density of laser radiation (j), and the number of laser pulses (N) was investigated. Also, to obtain nanostructures, axial and non-axial deposition was used, where the substrate was located perpendicular and parallel to the plasma torch, respectively. Stable modes of obtaining gold nanoparticles with high uniformity and average size from 4 to 10 nm were demonstrated. The modes of stable and reproducible deposition of ultrathin Au films (23-42 nm) and percolation structures (18-20 nm) were also demonstrated. Thus, PLD is a reliable and flexible tool for obtaining nanoparticles and ultrathin Au films the average size and thickness of which can be predictably controlled by varying the deposition parameters. This technique is well suited for coating with gold nanoparticles the surface of nanostructured materials based on chemically active substances that are particularly sensitive to surface cleanliness, which cannot be coated by standard methods.