Monodisperse aerosol particle deposition: Prospects for nanoelectronics

Nanometer-sized PbS particles are deposited in an electrostatic precipitator at atmospheric pressure on planar substrates with a rate of about 10(11) cm(-2) h(-1). The low-cost aerosol apparatus consists of (i) particle generation by evaporation and subsequent coagulation, (ii) charging the particles and selection in size by a Differential Mobility Analyzer (DMA), (iii) crystallisation in an annealing step, and finally (iv) deposition of particles. Specular X-Ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) is used to study the size and morphology of the PbS particles indicating that these particles are fully crystalline with lattice constant of bulk PbS. Laterally selective particle deposition (lithography) is aimed at by means of electrostatic control of the charged particles in the gas-phase. Best results are obtained with an electrostatic mask provided simply by a photoresist pattern.