Early-stage nucleation crystallography of sensitization-activated palladium catalysts and electrolessly deposited copper films

Abstract

The atomic-scale crystallography of early-stage nucleation of sensitization-activated palladium (Pd) catalysts and electrolessly plated copper (Cu) films has been investigated. Small Pd nanocrystallites of 5-10 nm were uniformly distributed as a single layer. Neighboring Pd nanocrystallites exhibited similar crystallography irrelevant to the random orientations of polycrystalline TaN substrate. Subsequently deposited Cu nanocrystallites of only 1 nm with small-angle boundaries nucleated on the Pd nanocrystallites with an orientation relationship of Cu [111] parallel to Pd [111]. In comparison, displacement-activated Pd preferentially nucleated on TaN, and Cu followed the orientation of Pd grains with a relationship of Cu [111] parallel to Pd [200]. (c) 2006 The Electrochemical Society.