Fabrication and characterization of Au-nanoparticle/W-nanodendrite structures on Al₂O₃ substrate

An Au-nanoparticle/W-nanodendrite compound structure was fabricated on an insulator Al₂O₃ substrate using an electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) process combined with an ion sputtering method. The as-fabricated compound structures were characterized and analyzed using conventional and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (CTEM and HRTEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). W-nanodendrite structures with the tips of 3 nm were grown self-standing at the edge of the Al₂O₃ substrate at positions separated from each other in distance of several nanometers. Au-nanoparticles with a grain size of 2.1 nm were uniformly distributed on the W-nanodendrites. The Au-nanoparticles were determined to be the equilibrium phase of Au with the face-centered cubic (fcc) structure.