150Â MeV Au ion induced modification of Si nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation

We have investigated in detail the effects of 150 MeV Au ions irradiation on Si nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by picosecond laser ablation of single crystal Si wafers in acetone. The formation of Si NPs was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) measurements. The size distribution of synthesized NPs was found to be in the range of few nm to 80 nm. These samples were then irradiated with 150 MeV Au ions at various fluences ranging from 1 × 1013 to 1 × 1014 ions/cm2. The effects of ion irradiation on the size and shape of Si NPs were further investigated using TEM, FESEM and micro Raman spectroscopy. From TEM data, we have noticed the reduction in size of NPs with increasing ion irradiation fluence. Furthermore with the increasing fluence we also observed the nucleation of 6-9 nm NPs in the vicinity of bigger NPs where there were no such NPs before ion irradiation. The increase in the FWHM of the Raman peak and its shift towards lower wave number side also suggests that the decrease in NP size is a result of increase in the fluence of irradiation.