Single-crystal silicon nanoparticles: An instability to check their synthesis

An instability occuring in electrical signals of the discharge is used as a mark to detect the end of the single-crystal silicon nanoparticle formation in Ar/SiH4 rf plasmas. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy studies of depositions show that the exact beginning of the coalescence phase corresponds to the onset of the instability. At the end of the instability, no single-crystal nanoparticles are remaining in the gas phase. These results based on a nonperturbative method allow to control depositions of single-crystal silicon nanoparticles of a well-defined size distribution with the highest density available during dust particle growth. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.