DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON-FILMS OBTAINED BY LOW-ENERGY CLUSTER BEAM DEPOSITION - EVIDENCE OF A MEMORY EFFECT OF THE PROPERTIES OF FREE CARBON CLUSTERS

Free carbon clusters with various selected sizes (C20,C60,C900) have b een deposited on different substrates to obtain continuous thin films (thickness approximately 100 nm). The characterization of nanostructur es and electronic structures of the films have been performed using va rious complementary techniques (atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, Raman spectros copy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy). A memory effect of the free carbon cluster properties permits the synthesis of amorphous dia mond or graphite films depending on the deposited incident species (C2 0 or C900, respectively).