FORMATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SILICON NANOPARTICLES - THREADS, TUBULES AND POSSIBLY SILICON FULLERENE-LIKE STRUCTURES

We report the formation of nanoparticles of silicon (thread-like nanos tructures of diameter approximate to 2 nm and length a few microns, as if nanocrystals are linked together along curly tubules), the occurre nce of a tubule-like configuration, whiskers and a new phase with larg e periodicity, a = 14.25 Angstrom, f.c.c.. Silicon, when evaporated un der helium ambience (100 Torr) and characterized through transmission electron microscopic techniques, revealed several curious characterist ics as mentioned above. We have suggested the possibility of a new pha se with a = 14.25 Angstrom for the f.c.c. lattice, being formed by an assembly of Si-28 clusters. The geometrically calculated lattice param eter of the f.c.c. lattice resulting from an assembly of Si-28 cluster s is in reasonable agreement with the observed lattice parameter.