Focused-ion-beam-enabled electroless growth of gold nanoparticles on silicon

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles grow area-selectively on focused-ion-beam-irradiated areas of a silicon substrate in response to exposure to a pure chloroauric acid solution. Thus, this area-selective metal deposition does not use resist films, silane-coupling agents, and electrolysis. Hydrofluoric acid, almost always used in electroless deposition of gold on silicon, is also unnecessary as long as micro/nanoscopic areas are targeted. This review highlights how we developed the method for the growth of gold on a desired local region of silicon products, including commercially available atomic force microscopy probes as well as silicon wafers, and discusses the mechanism.