Noise measurements and fluctuation analysis in nanoparticle films

This work reports two different ways of study providing potentially importa nt information about nanoparticle films. The first study is about conductan ce noise in PbS nanoparticle films. Monocrystalline and single-sized PbS na noparticles are synthesized via the gas-phase and deposited electrostatical ly onto semiconducting (GaAs) and on isolating (SiNx) substrates with plana r electrode contacts. Low frequency current noise of one monolayer thick fi lms are measured at various voltages, exhibiting diffusion noise characteri stics, which indicates a random walk (diffusion) phenomenon of electrons be tween the particles. In the second part of the paper, a new method is propo sed which would be is able to predict the particle size of conductive nanop article films in situ, during deposition. The method could be used for the measurement of the time-derivative of conductance fluctuations during depos ition. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.