Abstract:
The experimental results are presented for the backscattering of 500-eV electrons on Au nanoclusters formed
on the surface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite HOPG(0001) and amorphous SiO$_2$. It has been found that
the measured intensity of the elastically backscattered electrons nonmonotonically depends on the size of
nanoclusters. It has been shown that the observed features can be explained by an increase in the rms
deviation of the atoms of the Au nanocluster with a decrease in its size. The difference in the dependence of the
rms deviation of atoms on the size of the nanoclusters formed on the surfaces of HOPG(0001) and amorphous
SiO$_2$ is qualitatively explained by an increase in the roughness of the nanocluster surface accompanying their formation under the strongly nonequilibrium conditions of pulsed laser deposition.