9115981 Pohl Disorder in thin metallic and dielectric films on polished crystalline silicon substrates is investigated by measuring heat flow in the substrate. Below several degrees K, the phonons will not be scattered in the substrate; thus any scattering observed will be induced by the disorder in the films. A second study focuses on the effect of dimensionality on the observation of mechanical relaxation phenomena. Thin metallic and diekectric films will be deposited on silicon paddle oscillators. The technique has been refined so that it is sufficiently sensitive to detect amorphous films less than 1nm thick. One of the questions to be answered is whether the relaxation which is characteristic of all amorphous solids can also be observed in extremely thin films, or only in extended, three dimensional bodies. % % % Thin films of metals or electrical insulators play an increasingly important role in modern technology, e.g. as components in integrated circuits in the semiconductor industry. The current study focuses on characterizing such films by measuring their thermal and elastic properties. A specific example are microcrystalline films of fullerines (buckyballs). In addition to exploring their disorder, the potential of such films for storing gases like helium or hydrogen will be investigated. Preliminary measurements have sshown an extremely high solubility for helium. If a similar solubility could be achieved for hydrogen, this could have considerable practical applications for energy storage. ***
