Plasma Deposition and Nanotechnology

Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have attracted significant attention over the past several decades due to their potential to optimize physical, optical, and biological properties. Plasma ion-surface interaction is a method for forming these NPs, enabling the production of high-purity NPs without agglomeration at low temperatures. Consequently, the properties of plasma ions are closely related to the characteristics of the NPs. However, the effect of ion properties on the NP formation has not been sufficiently studied. In this study, we investigate the impact of plasma ion properties such as energy, density, and fluence, on the formation of Ag NPs in radio-frequency-biased inductively coupled plasma systems. Our results show that the ion energy has the greatest influence on the formation characteristics of Ag NPs, but the number of ions bombarding the surface is a more favorable parameter for precisely controlling the size of Ag NPs than ion energy. The size and shape of Ag NPs can be altered by a sufficient number of ions under low ion energy conditions. Furthermore, we identify a process window in which both size and density can be independently controlled by tuning ion properties.

Funding acknowledgement

This study was supported by the Technology Innovation Program, funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE, Korea) (grant no. RS-2024-00507767, 00508070, 2410000200, 2410000258, 2410003567), the Ministry of Science and ICT and the R&D Convergence Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea (grant no. CRC20015-000), the Korea Semiconductor Research Consortium (KSRC) (grant no. 00235950, 00237058), the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (grant no. KRISS GP2025-0013-02), and the 2023 Korea Aerospace University Faculty Research (grant no. 202300250001)