Structural, thermal and optical study of nanocrystalline silicon produced by ball milling

The ball milling process was used to obtain nanocrystalline cubic silicon. Between 5 and 10 h of milling, amorphous silicon was also formed. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) spectrum of a powder milled for 10 h showed that the amorphous-crystalline phase transition occurs at about 450 degrees C. According to Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction results, volume fractions of the crystalline, interfacial and amorphous phases were about 30, 39 and 31%, respectively. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.