FRACTAL STRUCTURE IN THE COALESCENCE PROCESS OF COPPER CLUSTERS

The gas condensation method has been used to produce copper clusters d eposited on insulating substrates, which are studied by transmission e lectron microscopy. Both the experiments and calculations have shown t he formation of clusters of clusters (or superclusters) with high nucl earity by fusing together smaller cluster units, and different kinds o f cluster aggregates with corresponding fractal dimensions indicating that the spontaneous self-organization and self-similarity are importa nt in the coalescence process of the metal clusters.