INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF GREIFSWALD

Marina Ganeva, M.Sc.

Research project:

Deposition and analysis of thin cluster films

Clusters are aggregates of 2 up to 10⁶ (10⁷) atoms or molecules. Clusters are of fundamental interest due to their intrinsic properties and because of their central position between molecular and condensed matter science. Clusters constitute new materials which may have properties that are distinct from those of discrete molecules or bulk matter. Metallic clusters have a wide application in catalysis, in photography, in nanoelectronics etc.

The DC magnetron sputter source allows producing of metallic clusters. Clusters are formed in the gas phase. Using the quadrupole mass filter clusters could be selected by sizes. It allows studying the evolution of the cluster properties on their size. We are working with the middle size clusters (10³-10⁴ atoms per cluster). The experimental setup consists of a NC200 nanocluster source (Oxford Applied Research: http://www.oaresearch.co.uk/), QMF200 quadrupole mass filter and a deposition chamber.

This setup allows producing thin nanocluster layers. Clusters are formed in the aggregation region of the NC200. Then they could be filtered using the mass filter and deposited at the Si substrate. The size of clusters could be changed by varying of the experimental parameters.

 

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