Optical and structural characteristics of silicon nanoparticles thin film prepared by laser ablation

In this paper thin film of silicon nanoparticles on glass substrates have been prepared by dip-coating method using colloidal silicon nanoparticles generated by nanosecond laser ablation of silicon wafer in ethanol. The resulting nanoparticles and structural properties and morphology of thin film were characterized by UV–Visible absorption spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction pattern and atomic force microscopy image. Nanoparticles with diameters ~ 9 nm were observed to be formed in the colloidal solution. The atomic force microscopy image of Si nanoparticles thin film shows that the overall average width is about 80 nm.