Silicon nanocrystals from plasma synthesis

This chapter explores the bottom-up growth of freestanding (unembedded) Si Nano crystals in the gas phase using plasmas. Si Nano crystals can be unique nanostructures due to the effect of quantum confinement operating in all three spatial dimensions. This three dimensional (3D) quantum confinement affords the ability to modify the accessible energy levels within the material, leading to size-dependent optical and electronic properties. The chapter explains that plasmas provide a growth environment that is well-tailored to the processing of high-quality Si Nano crystals for optoelectronic applications. The synthesis of Si Nano crystals in plasmas has come a long way since its humble beginnings as an unwanted problem for the microelectronics industry. Research is expected to proceed in a diverse range of areas, such as particle morphology control, hetero structure fabrication, and surface engineering. Further developing plasma synthesis techniques in these areas may enable Si quantum dots to displace traditional quantum dot materials in future applications.