Molecular dynamics study of nanojoining between axially positioned Ag nanowires

The miniaturization of electronics devices into nanometer scale is indispensable for next-generation semiconductor technology. Ag nanowires (Ag NWs) are considered to be the promising candidates for future electronic circuit owing to the excellent electrical and thermal properties. The nanojoining of axially positioned Ag NWs was performed by molecular dynamics simulation. Through the detailed atomic evolution during the nanojoining, the results indicate that the temperature and the distance between Ag NWs in axial direction have a great impact on nanojoining effect. When the nanojoining temperature is relatively high, the atoms are disordered and the atomic queues become to distort with strong thermodynamic properties and weak effect of metal bonds. At the relatively low temperature, the Ag NWs can be well connected with good junction quality and their own morphology, which is similar to the cold welding without fusion, while the distance between Ag NWs should be controlled for interaction and diffusion of interfacial atoms at nanowires head. When the Ag NWs are placed on Si and SiO2 substrate, because the atomic species and lattice structure of substrate material can differently affect the motions of Ag atoms through the interactive force between the atoms, the nanojoining quality of Ag NWs on Si substrate is better than that on the SiO2 substrate. So, for getting effective and reliable nanojoining without nanosolders and other materials, the temperature, distance and substrate surface should be reasonably controlled and selected, providing helpful theoretical guidance for experiment and application of nanojoining.