Size effect on solid–solid reaction growth between Cu film and Se particles

A recently developed experimental method of producing a compound by making use of the reaction between thin film and ultrafine particles has been used for copper selenide crystal formation to elucidate the particle size effect on the reaction process. In the case of reaction between Cu film Se particles with size of μm order, CuSe crystals were grown on Se particles by the diffusion of predominantly Cu atoms. In the case of Se particles of the order of 100 nm, amorphous Se particles changed into copper selenide particles by the mutual diffusion of Cu and Se atoms. If the size of Se particles was less than 20 nm, a part of the Cu film changed to copper selenide crystal due to the diffusion of Se atoms to the Cu film. Morphological differences have also been shown and discussed to be the result of the particle size effect.