| AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session PS+AS+SS-WeA |
| Session: | Plasma Surface Interactions |
| Presenter: | Thomas Lopez, University of California Riverside |
| Authors: | T. Lopez, University of California Riverside L. Mangolini, University of California Riverside |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Silicon nanocrystals are currently under investigation for several applications including nanoelectronics, light emitting devices, photovoltaics, thermal electric devices, and energy recovery and storage. Continuous flow nonthermal plasmas reactors are ideal for silicon nanaparticle production for many reasons; continuous flow non thermal plasma reactors are a scalable system, they readily produce completely amorphous to completely crystalline samples, and they have the ability to control size and size distributions of produced particles [1]. Extensive in-situ and ex-situ characterization on continuous flow non-thermal plasma reactors has been carried out characterizing nucleation, growth, and structural evolution [2]. Particle size, structure, and surface termination are all particle properties that are directly correlated to the particles’ interactions with ions and other plasma produced radicals during their creation [2]. It has been shown that the interactions between particles, ions and other radicals in non-thermal plasmas leads to a thermal annealing process [3], meaning particles in non-thermal plasmas are heated well above the temperatures of their respective carrier gases. We probe the temperature of silicon nanoparticles produced via continuous flow non-thermal plasma reactors by monitoring their surface termination. In-situ FTIR has been utilized to track changes in the surface chemistry of particles, which have then been correlated to the particle temperature as a function of plasma power. FTIR data shows that hydrogen termination of silicon nanoparticles as they flow through a plasma is power dependent, with higher power leading to a decrease in hydrogen surface termination. We attribute this behaviour to thermally induced desorption from the particle surface. A discussion on the characterization of nanoparticle interactions with the plasma based on in-situ FTIR, optical emission spectroscopy and ion density measurements will be presented.
1. Lopez, T. and L. Mangolini, Low activation energy for the crystallization of amorphous silicon nanoparticles, Nanoscale, 2014. 6(3): p. 1286-1294
2. Lopez, Thomas, and Lorenzo Mangolini. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B 32.6 (2014): 061802.
3. Kramer, N.J., R.J. Anthony, M. Mamunuru, E.S. Aydil, and U.R. Kortshagen, Plasma-induced crystallization of silicon nanoparticles, Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2014. 47(7): p. 075202.