Single layer colloidal films are of great scientific and technological interest in fields like heterogeneous catalysts, photonic crystals, and quantum dots.
Physical properties of these films are quite sensitive to the morphology of the film. The latter can be significantly modified by introducing geometrical restrictions, during the irreversible adsorption of particles on the substrate, which we take for the sake of simplicity to be a regular array of square regions of size α and a distance β apart from each other.
To this end, we perform an extensive Monte Carlo study of the irreversible deposition of colloids on substrates consisting of 1000 × 1000 square-cells, which can be experimentally built through lithographic methods.
For the jamming state, where no more colloidal particles can be adsorbed, we study the dependence of the radial distribution function of the distance between colloids on the above two parameters.
The sequence of peaks appearing in the radial distribution function is closely related to the distance between cells while the dispersion of each peak is related to the size of the cells.
Therefore, proper control of the α and β parameters can have as a result an order or disordered colloidal film.
To summarize our findings, we construct a diagram where we categorize the jamming state into four different cases according to the number of colloids that can be adsorbed per cell (single-particle or multiparticle) and the type of interaction between colloids adsorbed in neighboring cells (non-interacting or interacting).
Our study shows the relevance of geometrical constraints to obtain different patterned colloidal monolayer films with potential for practical applications.

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