Deposition and growth of noble metal clusters on graphite

Abstract

The growth of silver and gold clusters following atomic vapour deposition on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite has been studied using scanning electron microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Three-dimensional clusters were grown on the terraces and quasi-one-dimensional chains of clusters along the surface steps. An STM study was made on the effect of the step height on cluster nucleation. Charge-density modulations on the substrate surface around the silver clusters were analysed. A preliminary study of the deposition of mass-selected silver clusters from a beam onto the graphite surface has been made. The effect of the impact energy of silver clusters on the deposition process is explored.