Silver nanoparticles dispersed in polyimide thin film matrix

A new metallorganic silver precursor, Ag(hfa)tetraglyme, has-been used to produce silver aggregates into polymeric thin film matrices by thermal reduction in a temperature range between 200 degrees C and 300 degrees C. Here we present a characterization of the metal aggregates into polyimide thin films (0.1-1 mu m). The size of the metallic particles has been measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A narrow particles size distribution centered around a radius value of similar to 16 nm has been observed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) performed on this sample confirms the presence of metallic silver. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to determine the elemental composition at the particle surface. A partial oxidation of the metal particles, probably due to the air contamination or to interaction with oxygen of the polymeric matrix, has been observed.