9614882 Urban The overall objective of this research is to investigate thin film materials deposited from beams of nanoparticles (clusters), a fraction of which may be ionized and accelerated to the growing surface. There are three focus areas: synthesis of intense nanoparticle beams, nucleation and growth of thin films deposited from nanoparticle beams, and the modeling of both particle synthesis and subsequent film growth. In the area of synthesis, the objectives are to explore the limitations of the pure expansion method and build two new sources, using simple vaporization with gas aggregation and magnetron sputtering with gas-assisted aggregation. The prime objective in the thin film materials properties area is to fabricate films and investigate nanophase dependent properties of materials including magnetic and semiconductor materials. A second objective is to investigate films in which the nanoparticles are exploited to influence the film (microstructure, surface roughness, density, stresses, etc.) without preserving the particles, but rather by taking advantage of super-thermal condensation and transport properties of the beams of incident particles. The final focus area improves mathematical models of the nanoparticle synthesis process and the phenomena occurring as they arrive at the growing surface. This is carried out using existing molecular dynamics simulations. %%% This research has a direct impact on materials science, both in the development of nanophase thin films and in obtaining other novel film microstructures resulting from the unique transport, nucleation, and film growth mechanisms connected with nanoparticle depositing beams. ***
