Abstract Laser dewetting is a simple and efficient method for transforming a metal thin film into nanoparticles. However, the particles obtained via laser dewetting typically exhibit a wide size distribution. This study shows that a combination of thermal and laser dewetting processes can be used to generate more uniform metal nanoparticles. A 10-nm-thick Ag film deposited on glass was irradiated by an Nd:YAG laser pulse to produce nanoparticles with sizes in the range of 35-145 nm. When the film was thermally annealed at 250 °C in an Ar atmosphere before laser irradiation, Ag nanoparticles with a much narrower size distribution were obtained (mean size = 48 nm and standard deviation = 10.5 nm), which was attributed to the island structure formed by the pre-annealing step. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the absence of particle oxidation. An important feature associated with this hybrid dewetting approach was that the obtained Ag nanoparticles showed a strong single plasmonic resonance peak owing to their narrow size distribution. As a plasmonic sensing platform, they exhibited much enhanced refractive index sensitivity and figure of merit than the particles produced via laser dewetting.

中文翻译：

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一种混合去湿方法，以产生具有窄尺寸分布的高灵敏度等离子体银纳米粒子

摘要 激光去湿法是一种将金属薄膜转化为纳米颗粒的简单有效的方法。然而，通过激光去湿获得的颗粒通常表现出较宽的尺寸分布。该研究表明，热和激光去湿工艺的组合可用于生成更均匀的金属纳米颗粒。用 Nd:YAG 激光脉冲照射沉积在玻璃上的 10 nm 厚的 Ag 膜，以产生尺寸在 35-145 nm 范围内的纳米粒子。当薄膜在激光照射前在 Ar 气氛中在 250 °C 下热退火时，获得了尺寸分布更窄的 Ag 纳米粒子（平均尺寸 = 48 nm，标准偏差 = 10.5 nm），这归因于形成的岛结构通过预退火步骤。X 射线光电子能谱证实不存在颗粒氧化。与这种混合去湿方法相关的一个重要特征是，获得的银纳米粒子由于其窄的尺寸分布而显示出强烈的单等离子体共振峰。作为等离子体传感平台，它们表现出比通过激光去湿产生的粒子大大提高的折射率灵敏度和品质因数。