Desorption of nanoclusters from gold nanodispersed layers by 72keV Au400 ions: Experiment and molecular dynamics simulation

The interaction of 72keV Au400 ions (with a diameter of approximately 2nm) with nanodispersed gold targets has been studied. These interactions are dominated by elastic collisions. The gold nanodispersed target with 2–12nm nanoislets was bombarded with a fluence of 1.7×1012ions/cm2. The desorbed nanoclusters were collected on carbon foils supported by TEM-grids. Intact 29nm gold nanoclusters were found on the collectors. The desorption yield (normalized to the total cross-section of the projectile-cluster interaction) was estimated to be 0.62 nanocluster/projectile. Preliminary estimates were made using molecular dynamic simulations for comparison with the experimental results.