Abstract
Silicon nanocrystal aggregates have been produced in an inert argon gas by a pulsed laser vaporization-condensation technique using the second harmonic of a Nd: YAG laser. In our previous work, it has been shown that materials generated by evaporation-condensation technique present a variety of structures depending on the conditions of production. A theoretical model has been elaborated from a multitude of metallic samples, taking into consideration the effect of the main physical factors on the resulting morphology. This model has been applied to silicon in order to produce silicon nanocrystals with specific structural characteristics. We carried out an investigation of the influence of the structure on the optical properties of silicon nanocrystals. In this report, we present the first results from this investigation. We have explored the inert gas pressure variation effect on the resulting nanocrystallite structures. Investigation under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has revealed a weblike arrangement whose density gradually increases with the value of pressure. The deposits have been exposed to ambient air for eight months before photoluminescence (PL) measurements. The oxidized nanocrystals exhibited PL and the broad bands seem composed of multiple narrower bands. Silicon nanocrystals are the best candidates for the understanding of the extended red emission (ERE) visible in spectroscopic observations of many astronomical objects.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Canham, L. T. «Silicon quantum wire array fabrication by electrochemical and chemical dissolution of wafers», Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 57, p. 1046 (1990).
Ledoux, G., Ehbrecht, M., Guillois, O., Huisken, F., Kohn, B., Laguna, M. A., Nenner, I., Paillard, V., Papoular, R., Porterat, D. andReynaud, C. «Silicon as a candidate carrier for ERE», Astronomy & Astrophysics Letter, Vol. 333, p. L39 (1998).
Witt, A. N., Gordon, K. D. andFurton, D. G. «Silicon nanoparticles: source of extended red emission?», The Astrophysical J., Vol. 501, p. L111 (1998).
Ehbrecht, M., Huisken, F., Rohmand, F., Smirnov, V. V., Stelmarh, O. M. andHuisken, F. «CO2-laser-driven production of carbon clusters and fullerenes from the gas phase», Chem. Phys. Lett., Vol. 214, p. 34 (1993).
Schuppler, S., Friedman, S. L., Marcus, M. A., Adler, D. L. andXie, Y.-H. «Size, shape, and composition of luminescent species in oxidized Si nanocristals and H -passivated porous Si», Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 52, p. 4910 (1995).
Chen, H.S., Chiu, J.-J. andPerng, T.-P. «On the photoluminescence of Si nanoparticles», Mater. Phys. Mech., Vol. 4, p. 62 (2001).
Morisaki, H., Ping, F. W., Ono, H. andYazawa, K. «Above-band-gap photoluminescence from Si fine particles with oxide shell», J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 70, p. 1869 (1991).
Takagi, H., Ogawa, H., Yamazaki, Y., Ishizaki, A. andNakagiri, T. «Quantum size effects on [photoluminescence in ultrafine Si particles», Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 56, p. 2379 (1990).
Werwa, E., Seraphin, A. A., Chiu, L. A., Zhou, C. andKolenbrander, D. «Synthesis and processing of silicon nanocrystallites using a pulsed laser ablation supersonic expansion method», Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 64, p. 1821 (1994).
Lowndes, D. H., Rouleau, C. M., Thundat, T., Duscher, G., Kenik, E. A. andPennycook, S. J. «Silicon and zinc telluride nanoparticles synthesized by pulsed laser ablation: size distributions and nanoscale structure», Appl. S. Sci., Vol. 127–129, p. 355 (1998).
Yamada, Y., Orii, T., Umezu, I., Takeyama, S. andYoshida, T. «Optical properties of silicon nanocristallites prepared by excimer laser ablation in inert gas», Jpm. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 35, p. 1361 (1996).
Patrone, L., Nelson, D., Safarov, V. I., Sentis, M., Marine, W. andGiorgio, S. «Photoluminescence of silicon nanoclusters with reduced size dispersion produced by laser ablation», J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 87, p. 3829 (2000).
Makimura, T., Kunii, Y. andMurakami, K. «Light emission from nanometer-sized silicon particles fabricated by the laser ablation method», Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 35, p. 4780 (1996).
Kabashin, A. V., Meunier, M. andLeonelli, R. «Photoluminescence characterization of Si-based nanostructured films produced by pulsed laser ablation», J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, Vol. 19, p. 2217 (2001).
Geohegan, D. B., Puretzky, A. A., Duscher, G. andPennycook, J. «Photoluminescence from gas-suspended SiOx nanoparticles synthesized by laser ablation», Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 19, p. 2217 (2001).
Li, S., Silvers, J. andEl-Shall, M. S. «Surface oxidation and luminescence properties of weblike agglomeration of silicon nanocrystals produced by a laser vaporization-controlled condensation technique», J. Phys. Chem. B, Vol. 101, p. 1794 (1997).
Slobodrian, R.J. «Fractal Aggregates», Physics in Canada, Vol. 51, p. 245 (1995), and refs. Therein
Deladurantaye, P., Rioux, C., Slobodrian, R. J., Effect of Gravity on the Growth of Fractal Agregates, Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Vol. 8, 1693–1708 (1997).
Kabashin, A. V., Sylvestre, J.-P., Patskovsky, S. andMeunier, M. «Correlation between photoluminescence properties and morphology of laser-ablated Si/SiOx nanostructured films», J. Appl. Phys., Vol 91, p. 3248 (2002).
Carlisle, J. A., Dongol, M., Germanenko, I.N., Pithawalla, Y. B. andEl-Shall, M. S. «Evidence for change in the electronic and photoluminescence properties of surface-oxidized silicon nanocrystals induced by shrinking the size of the silicon core», Chem. Phys. Lett., Vol. 326, p. 335 (2000).
Ledoux, G., Guillois, O., Huisken, F., Kohn, B., Porterat, D. andReynaud, C. «Crystalline silicon nanoparticles as carriers for the Extended Red Emission», Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 377, p. 707 (2001).
Ledoux, G., Guillois, O., Reynaud, C., Huisken, F., Kohn, B. andPaillard, V. «Photoluminescence of silicon nanocrystallites: an astronomical application», Materials Science & Engineering B, Vol. 69-70, p. 350 (2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boisjoli, A., Leclerc, J.C., Piché, M. et al. Optical properties of silicon micro and nanocrystals. Microgravity sci. Technol. 16, 26–30 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02945940
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02945940