Real-time insight into nanostructure evolution during the rapid formation of ultra-thin gold layers on polymers
Matthias Schwartzkopf, Sven-Jannik Wöhnert, Vivian Waclawek, Niko Carstens, André Rothkirch, Jan Rubeck, Marc Gensch, Jonas Drewes, Oleksandr Polonskyi, Thomas Strunskus, A. Hinz, Simon J. Schaper, Volker Körstgens, Peter Müller‐Buschbaum, Franz Faupel, Stephan V. Roth
Abstract
Ultra-thin metal layers on polymer thin films attract tremendous research interest for advanced flexible optoelectronic applications, including organic photovoltaics, light emitting diodes and sensors. To realize the large-scale production of such metal-polymer hybrid materials, high rate sputter deposition is of particular interest. Here, we witness the birth of a metal-polymer hybrid material by quantifying in situ with unprecedented time-resolution of 0.5 ms the temporal evolution of interfacial morphology during the rapid formation of ultra-thin gold layers on thin polystyrene films. We monitor average non-equilibrium cluster geometries, transient interface morphologies and the effective near-surface gold diffusion. At 1 s sputter deposition, the polymer matrix has already been enriched with 1% gold and an intermixing layer has formed with a depth of over 3.5 nm. Furthermore, we experimentally observe unexpected changes in aspect ratios of ultra-small gold clusters growing in the vicinity of polymer chains. For the first time, this approach enables four-dimensional insights at atomic scales during the gold growth under non-equilibrium conditions.