Ion beam irradiation of embedded nanoparticles: Toward an in situ control of size and spatial distribution

Irradiation of chemically synthesized Au nanoparticles embedded in a dielectric matrix promotes the formation of a halo of satellites around the original cluster. We show that the complete dissolution of the nanoparticles (NC) results in the formation of a narrow size distribution of small precipitates with a mean size of 2 nm and a standard deviation of 0.4 nm. By combining the chemical synthesis of the nanoparticles and the irradiation to induce their dissolution and precipitation, we give a guideline method for overcoming the difficulty of controlling the size and spatial distribution of the embedded NC associated with ion implantation technique. In particular, we showed that the irradiation can be used to tailor the size of the already formed NC. Moreover, we establish that the satellites cluster evolution under irradiation can be described by a two step process. These two steps are discussed in terms of classical and inverse Ostwald ripening mechanisms.