Generalized theory of smallest diameter of metallic nanorods

Abstract

This paper reports a generalized theory of the smallest diameter of metallic nanorods from physical vapor deposition. The generalization incorporates the effects of nanorod separation and those of van der Waals interactions on geometrical shadowing. The generalized theory relies on approximations to be in closed form. Numerical solutions of governing equations with no approximations verify the accuracy of the closed-form theory. Further, experiments of physical vapor deposition validate the theory in terms of the diameter as a function of the separation of nanorods. In contrast, the previous theory for idealized geometrical shadowing [X. B. Niu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 136102 (2013)10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.136102] excludes any dependence on nanorod separation and predicts the diameter to be about to a of what the generalized theory does.