Laser-induced alloy nanoparticles: Au–Sn thin film morphology influence on the dewetting process

In this paper, the impact of thin Au–Sn layers morphology on the formation of laser-induced alloy nanoparticles (ANPs) is investigated. Also, the changes in composition observed over time in thin films are analysed. The influence of deposition rate and elemental composition was studied. The tests were performed on five sets of samples of varying atomic ratios of Au–Sn and film thickness, for which the optical parameters were measured with the spectroscopic ellipsometry technique (SE). The samples were dewetted with a nanosecond Yb:glass fibre laser. All fabricated surfaces were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the chemical composition of obtained structures was analysed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).