Energy-controlled depositions of size-selected silver nanoparticles on HOPG substrates

Silver monomer (Ag-1(+) ) or heptamer (Ag-7(+)) ions were deposited on high ly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) substrates at various, well-controlle d collision energies. The total amount of silver (Ag) atoms remaining on th e substrates after the collision was examined by measuring the Ag3d(5/2) ph otoelectron intensities. The collision energy dependence of the number of d eposited Ag atoms revealed that there exist, for both species, three well-d efined energy regions, for which soft landing, rebounding, or implantation is a dominant process. It was found that the collision energy dependence fo r Ag(7)is well scaled to that for Ag-1 by the factor 1/7(2/3) rather than 1 /7, reflecting the compactness of Ag-7 (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.