Formation of gold and silver cluster arrays using vacuum-thermal evaporation on a non-heated substrate

In the present work we investigated silver and gold cluster array formation on non-heated thin film substrate of amorphous carbon by means vacuum-thermal evaporation of small quantity of material. In basic experiments two series of samples with a different thickness (1-20 nm) were prepared from weight portion 0.6-11 mg, the distance between evaporator and deposition surface was 20 cm. The investigation of the samples of both series by TEM showed the significant dependence of the particle size and the density of their location on the surface on the quantity of condensing Ag and Au or on the virtual film thickness. The interesting results obtained in the work formed the basis of the model which expands understanding condensation processes, nucleation and growth of the crystalline phase from the gas phase.

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