Effects of Initial Phase on Silicon Nanoparticles Formation in Femtosecond Laser Ablation

Abstract

We report on the ultrafast (femtosecond) laser ablation of monocrystalline Si (100), polycrystalline Si, and Si (100) capped with a SiO2 layer. The target material was ablated using femtosecond laser pulses (~50 fs duration, 1 kHz repetition rate, and 800 nm wavelength) with an input energy of ~100 μJ in acetone medium to fabricate Si Nanoparticles (NPs). The average size of NPs produced by Si (100) was found to be less than that of the particles produced by poly Si. Ablation of Si caped with SiO2 resulted in bigger Si NPs together with a low concentration of SiO2 NPs. NPs were found to be of polycrystalline in all three cases irrespective of the initial phase.

New aspects of femtosecond laser ablation of Si in water: a material perspective

“…The Raman measurements of Si nanoparticles were taken in colloidal form with an excitation of 532 nm using a micro-Raman system. Figures 5(a In general, when bulk crystalline Si is transformed into Si nanoparticles the amorphous phase in Si nanocomposites has been noticed [61,74]. However, to the best of our knowledge, the effects of morphology of Si nanoparticles on the associated amorphous phase have not been investigated yet.…”

“…However, the perspectives of material consideration in the laser ablation process is rarely investigated. An example of this sensitivity, we have recently reported on the influence of the initial phase of Si on the formation of Si nanoparticles under fs laser ablation in a liquid medium [61]. We also studied the effect of initial Si resistivity in picosecond laser ablation under ambient air conditions [62].…”