Abstract
We have investigated the formation of silicon nanoparticles after pulsed-laser ablation of a silicon target into argon gas at pressures of 2-10 Torr. Growing process of silicon nanoparticles was observed by measuring light emission resulting from decomposition of the nanoparticles by using a second pulsed-laser. It was directly observed that the nanoparticles are formed on the time scale of 1 ms, depending on the ambient gas pressure. This information is expected to be quite helpful for growth control and for chemical surface-modification by using pulsed-laser light or by exposure to a pulsed reactive-gas jet. The nanoparticles exhibit visible photoluminescence after deposition. Effect of chemical modification to photoluminescence have been investigated. Brighter luminescence have been observed from silicon nanocrystallites precipitated in SiO2 films during annealing of SiOx films deposited using a laser ablation technique.
