Owing to quantum effects and charging effects which are characteristics to nanostructures, silicon nanocrystals show unique properties such as high-efficiency visible-light emission, ballistic electron transport, and Coulomb blockade, which lead novel applications for light-emitting devices, single-electron transistors, non-volatile memory devices and quantum dot photovoltaic cells. Silicon nanocrystals with uniform size of less than 10nm can be fabricated using a remote plasma CVD method. Several issues for the fabrication of silicon nanocrystals including size control, surface barrier layer control and high-density integration are discussed. Properties of silicon nanocrystals including single-electron transistors, nanodot memory devices, quasi-direct photoluminescence, and ballistic electron surface emission are also discussed.
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