Studies on silicon quantum dots prepared at different working pressure

This research work describes the synthesis and characterization of Si quantum dots of thickness 20 nm prepared on glass/quartz substrate by Physical Vapour Condensation Technique at the working pressure of 5 and 10 Torr with fixed substrate temperature 77 K using liquid nitrogen. The synthesized quantum dots were studied by FESEM, HRTEM, X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence and FTIR spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction pattern of synthesized quantum dots shows the amorphous nature. FESEM images of synthesized quantum dots suggest that the size of quantum dots varies from 4-6 nm which is further confirmed by HRTEM. On the basis of optical absorbance by UV-visible spectroscopy, a direct band gap has been detected. FTIR spectra suggest that the as-grown Si quantum dots are partially oxidized which is due exposure of samples to air after taking out the samples from the chamber. PL spectra show a broad peak at 444 nm, which may be attributed to the configuration of amorphous Si quantum dots. A slight shift in the peak position has been observed with increase in working pressure from 5 Torr to 10 Torr. The dc conductivity with temperature of Si quantum dots has also been studied from 303 to 454 K. It is evident that the dc conductivity (sigma(dc)) enhances linearly with temperature, showing that conduction in Si quantum dots is due to an activated action which further verify the semiconductor deportment of these quantum dots. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B. V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.