Langmuir–Blodgett Ag nanoparticle monolayer patterned by pulsed laser-induced selective desorption

The control of nanoparticle distribution on a solid substrate is an important and challenging issue in the development of novel nanostructured devices. Here we present a simple optical method for obtaining regular geometric nanoparticle arrangements. Monolayered Ag-nanoparticle films were deposited on glass substrates by the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) technique. The nanoparticles could be quickly desorbed from the substrate without causing a surface damage, when exposed to pulsed Nd:YAG laser with an energy density over a threshold value. This made it possible to obtain well-aligned patterned arrays simply by a spatial modulation of the pulse energy density. The effects of pulse duration, exposure time, and particle size on this laser-induced selective desorption process are discussed.