Soft Landing of Size Selected Nanoparticles Produced by Magnetron Sputtering

In the first part, the photodissociation dynamics of methyl azide are probed by photofragment translational spectroscopy at 248 nm and 193 nm dissociation wavelengths under collision-free conditions. At 248 nm, the only primary dissociation process is observed to be molecular elimination of N2. The partner fragment, CH3N, is observed to undergo further unimolecular decomposition through two pathways leading to HCN and HNC. At 193 nm, an additional primary dissociation process is observed, breaking the C-N bond and producing CH3 + N3. The N3 fragment is determined to have characteristics which most closely match those expected for the recently discovered cyclic isomer. In the second part, a newly built instrument is characterized for the soft landing deposition of size selected nanoparticles. Magnetron sputtering is used to produce ionize nanoparticles, which are filtered by mass in a quadrupole before being deposited on substrates. The performance of the quadrupole filter is examined using time of flight mass spectrometry. Nanoparticles deposited on surfaces are examined through atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.