Synthesis of crystalline silicon nanoparticles in low-pressure inductive plasmas

Amorphous silicon has been used for a wide variety of electronic applications including thin film transistors and energy conversion devices. However, these devices suffer greatly from defect scattering and recombination. A method for depositing crystalline silicon would be highly desirable, especially if it can be remotely created and deposited on any kind of substrate. Our work aims at synthesis and deposition of mono-disperse, single crystal silicon nanoparticles, several tens of nm in diameter on varied substrates. Synthesis of nanocrystals of 2-10 nm diameter has been previously reported but larger particles were amorphous or polycrystalline. This work reports the use of an inductively coupled low-pressure plasma to produce nanocrystals with diameters between 20-80 nm. Electron microscopy studies confirm that the nanocrystals are highly oriented diamond-cubic silicon.