• About
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Undergraduate Honors Research
    • Undergraduate Honors Program - Physics and Astronomy Department
    • Honors in Physics
    • View Item
    •   Institutional Repository Home
    • Undergraduate Honors Research
    • Undergraduate Honors Program - Physics and Astronomy Department
    • Honors in Physics
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of Institutional RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartmentThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDepartment

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Thermal fabrication of gold nanocages

    Remec, Miroslav
    : http://hdl.handle.net/1803/6268
    : 2011-04-11

    Abstract

    The purpose of this research project was to test and characterize a new method for gold nanoparticle production. The main idea was based on the preliminary observations made in earlier work, which had suggested that small amounts of gold deposited onto a silicon substrate will spontaneously reshape into gold nanoparticles when treated to controlled high-temperature heating for a sufficient period of time. This idea for a fabrication process was extended to incorporate Electron Beam Lithography (EBL) gold patterning. The full fabrication method consisted of the following steps: (1) Preparation of clean silicon substrates, (2) Addition of a Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) Coat via spin coating, (3) Design of gold patterns for the EBL, (4) Gold patterning via EBL, (5) Gold deposition via electron beam evaporation, (6) PMMA mask removal via acetone wash, and (7) High-Temperature furnace heating, as well as plans for a final step (8) Isolation of the gold nanocages via HF etching. The project research required the use of the photolithographic facilities of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE), as well as the use of the high-temperature furnace and other basic needs supplied by the research group of Professor Dickerson. Some of the VINSE equipment required relatively extensive operational training. The research project has demonstrated that the described thermal fabrication method can uniformly and repeatedly produce Au nanoparticles of about 400 nm in diameter from Au deposits of 1 um2 area and 20 nm thickness. Larger areas displayed structural fragmentation into multiple nanoparticles, and this fragmentation effect increased proportionally with increasing area size. Due to time constraints, the many available parameters prevented a complete characterization of this fabrication method; however, useful insights were obtained for several of the parameters of the fabrication process. In particular, it can be expected that smaller nanoparticles may be fabricated in a straightforward manner by reducing the patterned area sizes of the gold deposits. Results suggested an intrinsic limitation to the method: for the requirement of product uniformity, each Au-area deposit had to produce only a single nanoparticle.
    Show full item record

    Files in this item

    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Senior_Honors_Thesis_Remec.pdf
    Size:
    2.299Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Description:
    Physics Honors Thesis
    View/Open

    This item appears in the following collection(s):

    • Honors in Physics

    Connect with Vanderbilt Libraries

    Your Vanderbilt

    • Alumni
    • Current Students
    • Faculty & Staff
    • International Students
    • Media
    • Parents & Family
    • Prospective Students
    • Researchers
    • Sports Fans
    • Visitors & Neighbors

    Support the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries

    Support the Library...Give Now

    Gifts to the Libraries support the learning and research needs of the entire Vanderbilt community. Learn more about giving to the Libraries.

    Become a Friend of the Libraries

    Quick Links

    • Hours
    • About
    • Employment
    • Staff Directory
    • Accessibility Services
    • Contact
    • Vanderbilt Home
    • Privacy Policy