Silicon clusters were produced by gas aggregation in vacuum and co-deposited with water vapour onto a cold target where the water vapour froze. Melting of the ice yielded fluorescent silicon nanoparticles suspended in water which were investigated by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The PL spectrum showed a prominent band at 420 nm and other, less intense bands at shorter wavelengths. No fluorescence was observed below 275 nm. The shortest wavelength observed was related to a silicon cluster diameter of 0.9 nm using a simple particle-in-a-box model. Drops of the suspension were also deposited on freshly cleaved HOPG and investigated by AFM. The images showed single and agglomerated clusters with heights of typically 0.6 up to 2 nm. The sizes displayed by our measurements are not correlated to the average sizes that result from gas aggregation, indicating a size-selecting effect of the water suspension. The cluster-cluster interaction in water is governed by repulsion due to thermal energy and attraction due to van der Waals forces. For very small clusters repulsion dominates; at 3 nm diameter the two forces are balanced. We identify this stable phase of small clusters as the origin of exceptionally stable fluorescence.
Abstract. Fluorescent silicon nanoparticles have been produced in a two-step process in ultra high vacuum. First, silicon clusters were produced in the gas phase in a molecular beam. At the end of the cluster beam machine the cluster were co-deposited with water onto a cold target. Melting of the ice yields a suspension that fluoresces at 420 nm when excited with ultraviolet light. The fluorescence intensity remains constant over a period of more than a year. Photo-absorption and photo-luminescence spectra provide evidence of a Si/SiO 2 core-shell structure having a silicon core size of at least 1.4 nm in diameter and oxygen deficient O-Si-O defects as the origin of the deep-blue fluorescence. Furthermore, the fluorescent suspension was deposited on freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). AFM images recorded in UHV showed networks of agglomerated clusters, their smallest units having a diameter of typically 0.7 nm.
Abstract. The growth of Fe clusters by collisions of Fe atoms with Ar atoms flowing in a supersonic beam was investigated by Fe mass flux measurements and transmission electron (TEM) microscopy. Moderate Ar densities of the order of 1×10 20 m −3 were sufficient to cause cluster growth which was attributed to the low temperature of the Ar beam. TEM imaging of deposited clusters revealed diameter distributions from 2 to 10 nm depending on the deposition time. Extrapolation to zero deposition time revealed a cluster size of 2.4 nm grown in the gas phase. Growth on the surface was attributed to diffusion of single Fe atoms which are co-deposited with the clusters in the process and which agglomerate when they hit a cluster.
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