Particle deposition and deformation from high speed impaction of Ag nanoparticles

The impaction of a single Ag nanoparticle onto an (001) Ag substrate was studied as a function of particle diameter (2–9 nm) and impaction velocity (10–1500 m/sec) using molecular dynamics simulations. The final crystallographic structures were observed to transition from a polycrystalline to an epitaxial morphology as impaction velocity was increased and the velocity required to achieve epitaxy increased with particle size. To understand how the crystallographic structures evolved to their final state, the deformation mechanisms were then studied over a range of time scales, beginning immediately upon impaction. The observed mechanisms included disordering of the atoms and the initiation and propagation of partial dislocations. Deformation increased with impaction velocity due to increases in the degree of disordering and the partial dislocation density. At longer time scales, relaxation of the disordered particles produced epitaxial morphologies, whereas polycrystalline morphologies were observed following incomplete disordering. These results suggest that the microstructures of thick films produced by high speed impaction of nanoparticle aerosols are strongly influenced by processing parameters.