Porous Gold Films Fabricated by Wet-Chemistry Processes

Porous gold films presented in this paper are formed by combining gold electroless deposition and polystyrene beads templating methods. This original approach allows the formation of conductive films (2 x 10(6) (Omega.cm)(-1)) with tailored and interconnected porosity. The porous gold film was deposited up to 1.2 mu m on the silicon substrate without delamination. An original zirconia gel matrix containing gold nanoparticles deposited on the substrate acts both as an adhesion layer through the creation of covalent bonds and as a seed layer for the metallic gold film growth. Dip-coating parameters and gold electroless deposition kinetics have been optimized in order to create a three-dimensional network of 20 nm wide pores separated by 20 nm thick continuous gold layers. The resulting porous gold films were characterized by GIXRD, SEM, krypton adsorption-desorption, and 4-point probes method. The process is adaptable to different pore sizes and based on wet-chemistry. Consequently, the porous gold films presented in this paper can be used in a wide range of applications such as sensing, catalysis, optics, or electronics.