Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5425260 | Surface Science | 2006 | 7 Pages |
The phenomenon of the influence of the size of a material on its properties has been predicted theoretically and was confirmed for many materials experimentally by many researchers. It is a purpose of this paper to increase understanding of the influence of size on properties for silicon, germanium and alloy silicon-germanium nanoparticles. The relationships between lattice parameter and inverse particle radius had been investigated. The data obtained from the experiments show an unpredicted result that the lattice parameter of the SixGe1âx nanoparticle expands by up to 1.5% when the size of the particle decreases to 7Â nm. A calibration technique for a higher precision measurement of the lattice parameter is presented. The particles under investigation were deposited on an amorphous carbon substrate in order to prevent the influence of the misfit between deposit and crystalline substrate on the particle's behavior.