XRD AND SXM INVESTIGATIONS ON NANOCRYSTALLINE PBS

We have performed XRD and scanning tunneling/atomic force microscopy ( STM/AFM) measurements on nanocrystalline PbS. The PbS particles, which were produced by the inert gas condensation method were either deposi ted on substrate surfaces or compacted into macroscopic samples. The X RD measurements performed on powders as well as on compact pellets sho w that the resulting material consists only of the ordered cubic cryst alline structure of PbS. The AFM measurements on PbS covered substrate s shaw agglomerates which could be resolved by STM. The agglomerates a re composed by small PbS nanocrystals, exhibiting a grain size of appr ox. 5 nm. The electronic properties of these ultrasmall grains should thus involve pronounced quantum phenomena. (C) 1997 Acta Metallurgica Inc.