Electrostatic Aerosol Deposition Method for the Formation of an Ensemble of Monodisperse Particles on a Substrate

We have developed an aerosol-based technique for deposition of monodisperse ensembles of spherical SiO2 nanoparticles on the surface of single-crystal silicon substrate (1 cm(2)) with an average surface particle density of about 2.1 +/- 0.4 particles per mu m(2). The obtained samples of monodisperse ensembles SiO2 nanoparticles was characterized by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The ensemble of deposited nanoparticles is characterized by a narrow size distribution with a modal size of 26.6 nm and a full width at half maximum of 3.5 nm according to the atomic force microscopy data. We have demonstrated the use of the obtained test structure to determine the effective radius of the tip of an atomic force microscope.