Single-crystal nanoparticles of silicon, several tens of nm in diameter, may be suitable as building blocks for single-nanoparticle electronic devices. Previous studies of nanoparticles produced in low-pressure plasmas have demonstrated the synthesis nanocrystals of 2-10 nm diameter but larger particles were amorphous or polycrystalline. This work reports the use of a constricted, filamentary capacitively coupled low-pressure plasma to produce single-crystal silicon nanoparticles with diameters between 20-80 nm. Particles are highly oriented with predominant cubic shape. The particle size distribution is rather monodisperse. Electron microscopy studies confirm that the nanoparticles are highly oriented diamond-cubic silicon.
@article{arxiv.physics/0410038,
title = {Plasma synthesis of single crystal silicon nanoparticles for novel electronic device applications},
author = {Ameya Bapat and Curtis Anderson and Christopher R. Perrey and C. Barry Carter and Stephen A. Campbell and Uwe Kortshagen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0410038},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
accepted for publication in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, scheduled for Dec. 2004 Fu