Self-organization of gold nanoclusters on hexagonal SiC and SiO2 surfaces

Very thin Au layers were deposited on SiC hexagonal and SiO2 substrates by sputtering. The Ausurface diffusion, clustering, and self-organization of Au nanoclusters on these substrates, inducedby thermal processes, were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, atomic forcemicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. On both types ofsubstrates, clustering is shown to be a ripening process of three-dimensional structures controlled bysurface diffusion and the application of the ripening theory allowed us to derive the surface diffusioncoefficient and all other parameters necessary to describe the entire process. The system Aunanoclusters/SiC and Au nanoclusters/SiO2 are proposed as nanostructured materials fornanoelectronic and nanotechnology applications.