Cluster assembled materials: A novel class of nanostructured solids with original structures and properties

The low-energy cluster beam deposition technique (LECBD) is applied to produce cluster assembled films with hitherto unknown nanostructured morphologies and properties. Neutral clusters having the very low energy gained in the supersonic expansion at the exit of the inert gas condensation-type source are deposited without fragmentation upon impact on the substrate, Depending on the deposition conditions (nature, size and flux of incident clusters, nature and temperature of the substrate, vacuum conditions), granular nanostructures resulting from the diffusion and coalescence of supported clusters are obtained with materials of any type (covalent or metallic). A critical size for coalescence limits the supported grain size and, finally, highly porous thick films growing by random stacking of nanoparticles are obtained. A recent model developed by combining several dynamical processes simultaneously occurring on the substrate (deposition-diffusion-aggregation, DDA) is used to simulate the cluster assembled film morphology in good agreement with the experimental observations. Examples of novel materials obtained by LECBD are presented to illustrate the interesting potentialities of the technique. In the case of covalent materials such as carbon and silicon, 'amorphon'-type disordered structures, different from the conventional amorphous structures (a-C and a-Si), are obtained with some unique properties. With transition metal (Fe, Co and Ni) cluster assembled films, a specific magnetic behaviour, resulting from the competition between the intrinsic properties of the grains (magnetocrystalline anisotropy) and the interactions between grains, is observed. Also, films of clusters embedded in various co-deposited matrices are produced in order to control the interactions between grains via the matrix materials (insulating, conducting...). Interesting optical properties (from metallic clusters in SiO2) or giant magnetoresistance effects (from Co clusters in silver) are reported for such systems, emphasizing the future role of LECBD in various fields of applications such as optical and optoelectronic nanostructures, magnetic and magneto-optic nanostructures and quantum devices.