Abstract
In this thesis, we report the self-organized formation of monodispersed Fe, Ni, and Co nanoclusters on a single-crystal Si3N4 dielectric thin film at room temperature. Fe, Ni, and Co nanoclusters display size-limiting monodispersion behavior and have a very narrow size distribution. We have confirmed that the average sizes of Fe, Ni, and Co nanoclusters are independent of the adatom coverage and the areal density of the clusters is linearly proportional to the deposition coverage. We have also concluded that the atomic number distribution of Fe nanoclusters deduced from the experimental result is consistent with the new nucleation model proposed by us. In this model, this novel phenomenon of self-limiting size distribution originates from the large surface free energy and the quantum size effect of the metal nanoclusters in the ultrasmall size regime. Further, according to the pair distribution function, we found that no correlation relationship exists or mutual interactions among the Fe nanoclusters.