Preparation and evaluation of nitrogen-terminated silicon nanoparticles: laser annealing effect

Nitrogen-terminated silicon nanoparticles were synthesized on AFI AlPO4-5 z eolite by pulsed laser ablation of silicon target in the presence of 1.33 x 10(-5) Pa of ammonia and were annealed by multiple laser shots at 532 nm. The samples were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ultravi olet photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption measurements. The res ults indicate that they are composed of nonstoichiometric silicon nitride n anoparticles as well as silicon species with dangling bonds. NHx (x = 1,2) polyhydride species are dissociated by pulsed laser annealing, which shows the improvement of the silicon and silicon nitride crystallinities. It is s uggested that the nanoparticles will agglomerate as clusters after laser an nealing. According to the Tauc plot obtained from UV-vis absorption data, a blue shift of band gap energy from bulk silicon was observed. (C) 2000 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.