Thermal Properties of Indium Nanoparticles and Gold Silicide Formation by Scanning Nanocalorimetry

The silicide study focuses on phase formation in Au-Si thin films. The unique finding is to determine the melting temperature of metastable phase using calorimetry, which is ∼60°C below the eutectic melting point (363°C). The heat of fusion (26.4 kJ/mol) of the metastable phase has also been obtained. The metastable phase is analyzed to be an orthorhombic structure (a = 0.92, b = 0.72, c = 1.35 nm) by double tilting experiment with stereographic projection method (ex-situ TEM). The composition is proposed to be Au3Si from EDAX. The real-time experiment shows the melting point depression of eutectic and competitive growth between eutectic and Au3Si phase. The composition of the film (i.e., gold-rich or silicon-rich) determines the formed phase. Rapid cooling experiments reveal that eutectic is supercooled down to much lower temperatures (∼135°C) than the Au3Si phase (∼275°C).

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Materials Science and Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Zhang, Ming

Contributors dc:contributor

• Allen, Leslie H.

• Engineering, Materials Science

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3102011

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/82747