Characterization of metallic nano-particles via surface wave scattering: B. Physical concept and numerical experiments

✍ Scribed by Mustafa M. Aslan; M. Pinar Mengüç; Gorden Videen

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 320 KB
• Volume: 93
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4073
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2004.08.040

✦ Synopsis

We present a methodology to characterize nanometer-size particles on or near a surface via surface-wave scattering. With a series of simulations, we show that the size of nano-particles on a metallic surface can be determined unambiguously from the angular profile of the elliptical polarization of scattered waves expressed as normalized scattering Mueller matrix elements M ij : This characterization modality is based on the interaction of particles on a surface with the evanescent waves. The particle-surface interactions become less pronounced with separation distance, and the scattering of evanescent waves by nano-particles does not show any significant size dependence. The results suggest that it is possible to monitor the self-assembly process of metallic particles on metallic surfaces in real time, which is crucial for on-line control in bottomup nano-manufacturing processes.