Soft-landing of size-selected W clusters on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite surfaces: Towards the fabrication of thin films of cluster assemblies

Mass-selected W cluster anions in the size range of 20-3500 are deposited on highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surfaces. The structures of resulting thin films are studied using atomic force microscopy. Clusters with more than ∼600 atoms form thin films, in which the clusters are not completely merged but survive as individual species to a certain extent. The new class of materials fabricated here (cluster-assemblies) has a potential for applications in heterogeneous catalysis and in optoelectronic devices. In addition, they are interesting from the perspective of basic research.