FORMATION OF NANOCRYSTALLINE SILICON QUANTUM DOT ARRAYS

Recent progress in the fabrication technology of silicon nanostructures has made possible observations of novel electrical and optical properties of silicon quantum dots, such as single electron tunneling, ballistic transport, visible photoluminescence and electron emission. Nanocrystalline silicon particles with size less than 10 nm have been prepared by VHF plasma decomposition of silane gas. Pulsed gas plasma processing, in which the nucleation and the growth period are controlled precisely, is turned out to be effective for the preparation of monodispersed nanocrystalline silicon particles [1]. Electrical properties of nanocrystalline silicon particles have been investigated by employing nanoscale electrodes