Physical assembly of Ag nanocrystals on enclosed surfaces in monocrystalline Si.

Growth of thin crystals on external substrate surfaces by many different methods is a well-known technique, but its extension to inner, enclosed surfaces of large defects in monocrystalline materials has not yet been reported. The literature on thin film growth and defects in materials can be leveraged to fabricate new structures for a variety of applications. Here we show a physical process of nucleation and evolution of nanocrystalline silver inside voids in monocrystalline silicon. We found that the Ag growth is hetero-epitaxial using a coincident site lattice. Alignment of Ag and Si atomic planes is uniformly observed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy and macroscopically by channeling Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.