A comparative high-resolution electron microscope study of Ag clusters produced by a sputter-gas aggregation and ion cluster beam technique

• Published in: JPN J APPL PHYS PART 1 REGUL PAP SHORT NOTE REV PAP 1994, Vol.33 (3A), p.1509-1517
• Main Authors: HOHL, G.-F, HIHARA, T, SAKURAI, M, OISHI, T, WAKOH, K, SUMIYAMA, K, SUZUKI, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Clusters, nanoparticles, and nanocrystalline materials; Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and fullerene-related materials; Growth from vapor; Materials science; Metals. Metallurgy; Methods of crystal growth; physics of crystal growth; Physics; Structure of solids and liquids; crystallography
• ISSN: 0021-4922; 1347-4065
• DOI: 10.1143/jjap.33.1509

Ag clusters were formed by a sputter-gas-aggregation process [H. Haberland et al. .: J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 10 (1992) 3266] and the ionized cluster beam (ICB) [T. Takagi: Ionized-Cluster Beam Deposition and Epitaxy (Noyes, Park Ridge, 1988)] technique. The Ag clusters deposited on collodion-coated microgrids were investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The diameter of those clusters, d , ranges from 1 nm up to about 10 nm for specimens produced by the sputter-gas aggregation technique, depending on the sputter condition and the deposition time. Comparable times of the ICB deposition lead to a broader distribution up to d ≈20 nm, suggesting the formation of islands with extremely flat shapes. High percentages of crystalline particles obtained by both techniques are either single crystals or multiple twins with clear lattice images.