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We have investigated the interaction and aggregation of novel fluorescent silicon nanoclusters in liquids by measuring the size distribution of dried clusters on graphite. The clusters were produced by gas aggregation and co-deposition with a beam of water vapour. Drops of the solutions were placed on freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolitic graphite, subsequently vacuum dried and investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in ultra high vacuum. The AFM images show single clusters and agglomerates. The height distributions are Gaussian-shaped with average heights of 1 nm and widths of 1 nm. The heights never exceed 3 nm. In some regions a second cluster layer is observed. In all samples the separation between first and second layers is larger than the separation between the first layer and the graphite substrate, which we attribute to a stronger interaction between clusters and surface than the cluster self-interaction. We conclude that the separation between first and second layer represents a much better fingerprint of the original size distribution of the clusters in solution than the height of the first layer. The observation of a second cluster layer is important for using silicon clusters as building blocks for cluster-assembled materials.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

We have investigated the interaction and aggregation of novel fluorescent silicon nanoclusters in liquids by measuring the size distribution of dried clusters on graphite. The clusters were produced by gas aggregation and co-deposition with a beam of water vapour. Drops of the solutions were placed on freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolitic graphite, subsequently vacuum dried and investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in ultra high vacuum. The AFM images show single clusters and agglomerates. The height distributions are Gaussian-shaped with average heights of 1 nm and widths of 1 nm. The heights never exceed 3 nm. In some regions a second cluster layer is observed. In all samples the separation between first and second layers is larger than the separation between the first layer and the graphite substrate, which we attribute to a stronger interaction between clusters and surface than the cluster self-interaction. We conclude that the separation between first and second layer represents a much better fingerprint of the original size distribution of the clusters in solution than the height of the first layer. The observation of a second cluster layer is important for using silicon clusters as building blocks for cluster-assembled materials.

Fabrication of Nano-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (NEMS) of high quality is nowadays extremely efficient. These NEMS will be used as sensors and actuators in integrated systems. Their use however raises questions about their interface (actuation, detection, read out) with external detection and control systems. Their operation implies many fundamental questions related to single particle effects such as Coulomb blockade, light matter interactions such as radiation pressure, thermal effects, Casimir forces and the coupling of nanosystems to external world (thermal fluctuations, back action effect). Here we specifically present how the damping of an oscillating cantilever can be tuned in two radically different ways: i) through an electro-mechanical coupling in the presence of a strong Johnson noise, ii) through an external feedback control of thermal fluctuations which is the cold damping closely related to Maxwell's demon. This shows how the interplay between MEMS or NEMS external control and their coupling to a thermal bath can lead to a wealth of effects that are nowadays extensively studied in different areas.