Abstract:
The thesis titled 'An investigation of the nanogranular
Au films electrolessly deposited on Si surfaces' presents the
efforts made to exploit the method of electroless deposition
in nanostructuring gold. Chapter 1 contains a brief overview
on the methods employed for nanocrystalline metal films with
special emphasis on the electroless process.
A systematic study carried out to obtain epitaxial Au
films on Si(lll) surfaces ha s been discussed in Chapter 2.
It explains the effect of variation in plating conditions such
as concentration of the plating solution, deposition time and
bath temperature, on the crystallographic orientation and
morphology of the deposited films.
Chapter 3 describes the formation of discrete
nanostructures of Au by controlling the metal growth
using surfactant molecules or by masking selected regions
of the Si substrate. The effect of surfactants such
as poly(vlnylpyrrolidone) and mercaptoundecanoic acid
as additives in the plating solution, ha s been studied.
Alternatively, self assembling molecules such as silanes have
been used as masking agents to form discrete nanostructures
of Au.
Chapter 4 deals with electroless deposition of Au on
Si substrates precoated with carbon. The morphology of the
nanogranular film ha s been investigated as a function of the
underlying carbon layer thickness. The chemical nature of the
Au deposits inside the carbon pores is also examined. This chapter also describes the utility of the prepared nanogranular
films as substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering
(SERS) from organic as well as biomolecules.
