Nanostructured thin films of carbon, silicon, and mixed clusters

The formation of new cluster-assembled films of covalent materials using the Low Energy Cluster Beam Deposition technique is discussed. For carbon, a clear memory effect of the hybridization in free clusters is observed in the cluster assembled film. Moreover for carbon and silicon, the structure of the films obtained from small clusters (typically 30 atoms) is very close to the amorphon type structures and is very different from conventional amorphous structures. Very interesting properties are found for these films, as for example, a strong visible luminescence effect for silicon. Finally, preliminary results are found for Si-C clusters indicating very interesting structures for free clusters, such as mixed fullerenes with one or two Si atoms.