Nano Materials

If we take a material in which the atoms do not move away from each other and with size in the range of 1 to 100 nano meters, these materials are called nano materials.

Sputtering

• Sputtering is a process whereby particles are ejected from a solid target material due to bombarding of target by energetic particles. It is necessary to have kinetic energy of incoming particles much greater than conventional thermal energies.
• In this technology, the substrate is placed in a vacuum chamber with source material, named target, and an inert gas(such as Argon) is introduced at low pressure. A gas plasma is struck using an RF power source, causing the gas to become ionized.
• The ions are accelerated towards the surface of the target, causing atoms of the source material to break from the target in vapour form and condense on all surfaces.

Sol Gel

• Nano particles and nano powder is obtained using this technique

• In general, sol - gel technique is based on the hydrolysis of liquid precursors and formation of colloidal solutions

• Out of few more processes, hydro - dynamic cavitation is often used, in which nanoparticles can be generated through creation and release of gas bubbles inside the sol - get solution.

• Here, the sol - get solution is taken in a drying chamber and thoroughly mixed by applying enormous pressure, high temperature and further exposing it to cavitational disturbances.

• This process creates hydrodynamic bubbles in the sol - gel. These bubbles will undergo nucleation, growth and then it quenches to form nano particles.