ABSTRACT
Small particles in the submicrometer and subnanometer size range are of funda mental interest in a wide variety of industries. The development of advanced nanomaterials and nanodevices involves the efficient application of nanometer size particles. By contrast, nanometer size particles as contaminants are a leading cause of failure of components and end products in widely diverse industries, such as electronics, semiconductors and optics. For example, in the data storage industry, minimizing contaminant particles on hard disk drive components is critical to drive performance and high product yield. The current nominal flying height at which the head flies over the disk is 17 to 25 nm which will be even lower in future product designs. If a particle of similar dimensions is trapped be tween the head and the disk, it can cause a catastrophic failure of the drive [1 ].
