Selective Formation of Size-Controlled Silicon Nanocrystals by Photosynthesis in SiO Nanoparticle Thin Film

The SiO
_x
thin film with a thickness of about 1 mum was formed on a GaAs substrate by bar-coating with the organic solution of the SiO
_x
nanoparticles (~40 nm). The as-formed SiO
_x
thin film consists of the SiO
_x
nanoparticles; thus the thin film is macroscopically discontinuous and is referred to as a nanoparticle thin film. Although there were no silicon (Si) nanocrystals in the as-formed SiO
_x
nanoparticle thin film, Si nanocrystals were observed by Raman scattering measurement after the thin film was exposed to the laser beam. The growth of Si nanocrystals by laser irradiation is referred to as photosynthesis. The photosynthesis of Si nanocrystals is found to be a self-limiting process. After the average size reaches a certain value, further increase of irradiation time or laser power does not increase the average size. The photosynthesis is similar to the thermal synthesis of Si nanocrystals from SiO
_x
but much faster and low-temperature growth of Si nanocrystals from SiO
_x
. Furthermore, the laser irradiation makes nanoparticles larger by merging. This suggests a possibility of low-temperature formation of a Si-nanocrystal array embedded in a SiO
₂
thin film. Such a structure has many potential device applications