Abstract
Nanometric Cr clusters have been prepared by Plasma-Gas-Aggregation, which is a combination of sputtering and gas-aggregation techniques. We studied influences of the flow rate and sorts of inert gas (Ar and He/Ar mixture) on formed clusters by transmission electron microscope (TEM) observations. The mean cluster diameter as a function of the Ar gas flow rate shows the anomalous behavior in comparison with the conventional gas-aggregation method: the mean cluster diameter has a maximum value at the Ar gas flow rate=600 SCCM, indicating that there is an optimum Ar gas flow rate for cluster formation. This behavior can be attributed to the balance of sputtering rate and thermalization process of sputtered atoms. It is also found that the low flow rate of Ar gas leads to mono-disperse nanometric clusters in the size range of about 5–10 nm. The cluster size further decreases when He gas is mixed with Ar gas.
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