Formation of Silicon Nanoparticles Using SiH4 Pyrolysis at Atmospheric- and Low-Pressure

The formation of particles using pyrolysis has many advantages over other particle manufacturing techniques. Specifically, pyrolysis can generate nanoparticles at atmospheric- and low-pressure, making the method suitable for many applications. Here, we synthesized silicon (Si) nanoparticles by using pyrolysis at atmospheric- (760 Torr) and low- (0.5 Torr) pressure and evaluated the characteristics of the Si nanoparticles that axe relevant to applications in flash memory and energy device fabrication. As a result, we determined that the flow rate was an important factor for controlling the particle diameter and the coagulation of the Si nanoparticles. Also, the occurrence of oxidation in the furnace reduces natural oxidation, such that we can easily control the oxidation layer on the Si nanoparticles. Also, we found that there were differences between the Si nanoparticles synthesized at low-pressure and the Si nanoparticles synthesized at atmospheric- press tire. At low-pressure, the residence time of the generated Si nanoparticles was much shorter than that at atmospheric- pressure and by making use of this difference, we could prevent coagulation and obtain smaller and more uniform Si nanoparticles.