Growth of oriented Au nanostructures: Role of oxide at the interface

We report on the formation of oriented gold nanostructures on Si(100) substrate by annealing procedures in low vacuum (≅10-2 mbar) and at high temperature (≅975 deg. C). Various thicknesses of gold films have been deposited with SiOx (using high vacuum thermal evaporation) and without SiOx (using molecular beam epitaxy) at the interface on Si(100). Electron microscopy measurements were performed to determine the morphology, orientation of the structures and the nature of oxide layer. Interfacial oxide layer, low vacuum and high temperature annealing conditions are found to be necessary to grow oriented gold structures. These gold structures can be transferred by simple scratching method.