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Ultrathin silicon nitride multilayer films were prepared by varying silane/ammonia flow ratios 1/10 and 1/20 alternately in a silicon nitride hot-wire chemical vapor deposition chamber. Some films were annealed at 1000 °C for 1 h in an argon environment. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows ~6 nm silicon clusters formed in the annealed film. Strong visible red emission in the wavelength range 810–820 nm was detected from the films when excited with the 325 nm He–Cd laser excitation. A blueshift in the photoluminescence of the annealed film with respect to the as-deposited film is attributed to the silicon quantum confinement due to the presence of silicon clusters. Disappearance of the photoluminescence peak at 521 nm related to silicon dangling bonds in the annealed film in comparison with the as-deposited film was confirmed by the photoluminescence measurements.

Synthesis of Si quantum dots (QDs), useful for multi-junction crystalline Si solar cells, using porous Silicon (PS) is presented in this paper. Four types of freestanding PS structures are fabricated by anodization method with modulation of current density between two levels. The level-1 current density is kept constant at 20 mA/cm2 (for reference monolayer structure - sample A) and 10 mA/cm2 (for all multilayer structures samples B, C, D). The level-2 is varied between 0 to 50 mA/cm2 (0, 20, 30, 50 mA/cm2 as sample A, B, C and D respectively). In order to obtain Si QDs from PS films, the films are subjected to sonication (120 W, 42 kHz) for 6 hours. HRTEM images confirm presence of Si nanoparticles in the range of 2 to 8 nm. Various spectroscopic analyses of Si nanoparticles are performed in order to evaluate quantum confinement behavior and surface modification observed during sonication. Analysis of de-convoluted Raman peaks shows frequency downshift and increase in full width half maximum due to formation of QDs. After sonication, PL spectroscopy indicates blue shift from 2.54 eV (sample A) to 2.85 eV (sample D_6HR), similar to the observations made by UV-Vis spectroscopy. FTIR spectra show oxidation of Si QDs during sonication. Spectroscopic and microscopic results are explained using quantum confinement and surface modification phenomenon.

Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are excellent material with a variety of physical, electrical, and mechanical properties. The average aspect ratio is evaluated for samples synthesized at different temperature and time of precursor flow. The experiments were conducted on calcium carbonate (CaCO3) substrate with iron-cobalt (Fe-Co) as a catalyst. Acetylene (C2H2) was used as a precursor gas and argon (Ar) as a carrier gas. The experiments were performed at temperatures ranging from 600 0C to 900 0C in step of 100 0C with time of precursor flow varying from 15 minutes to 75 minutes in the step of 15 minutes. The partial pressure of C2H2 and Ar kept constant during synthesis of CNT. The mass flow rate of C2H2 and Ar were 2 liters/hour and 60 liters/hour respectively during synthesis of CNT. The characterization of CNT was done with SEM, EDX, and TEM microscopes. Average aspect ratio of CNT is estimated using image analysis software. Most of nanotubes grown present an average diameter of 40 nm. The minimum and maximum diameter found are12.5 nm and 106 nm respectively. It is observed that average aspect ratio ranges from 25 to 58.

Yield of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) depends on numerous process parameters such as temperature of synthesis, type of catalyst, type of precursor, time of precursor flow and partial pressure of precursor gas as well as carrier gas, etc. Experiments were performed in order to find the optimum temperature of synthesis for varying time of precursor flow. The yield was evaluated in terms of mass of crystalline CNTs per gram of substrate and/or catalyst. The CNTs were grown on a calcium carbonate (CaCO3) substrate, with iron-cobalt (Fe-Co) as a catalyst, using acetylene (C2H2) as a precursor gas and argon (Ar) as a carrier gas. A three-stage purification process, incorporating two acid treatment steps and one annealing step, was used for purification which ensures high grade purity of CNTs. The highest yield of 21.4 g of CNTs per g of catalyst was achieved at 700oC for 60 min of synthesis. The CNTs were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman, Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), and Gas chromatography (GC).