In situ observation of indium nanoparticles deposited on Si thin films by ultrahigh vacuum field emission transmission electron microscope

The fabrication and structural observation of In nanoparticles deposited on Si(110) substrates were performed in an ultrahigh vacuum field emission tr ansmission electron microscope. High-resolution electron microscopy of depo sited In shows the formation of nanoparticles with various sizes. Nanoparti cles more than 7 nm in diameter have tetragonal structure similar to the bu lk, whereas nanoparticles of about 3 nm size seem to have fee structure. Th eir shapes fluctuate fluently, sometimes showing coexistence of solid and l iquid. Nanoparticles more than 10 nm in diameter show transitions between s ingle crystal, single twin and decahedral multiply twinned particles. (C) 1 999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.