Feasibility study of nanoparticle synthesis from powders of compounds with incongruent sublimation behavior by the evaporation/condensation method

In this paper we investigate the feasibility of a fabrication route to produce nanocrystals of compound material with incongruent sublimation behavior via the simple evaporation of the powder of the compound. The generation of stoichiometric particles would only be possible if the particle formation occurs at temperatures below the incongruent sublimation point. Our experiments, done on three different III-V compounds, show that the simple evaporation of the powder of those materials to obtain, stoichiometric particles is nor possible. Particle formation does not start at temperatures below the incongruent sublimation point. Particles synthesized consisted not of the compound but almost entirely of the more volatile group-V element, leading to a change in the composition of the source material and thus to irreproducible behavior. (C) 1998 Acta Metallurgica Inc.