Process for producing luminescent silicon nanoparticles

US7371666B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• The Research Foundation of the State University of New York · US

Inventors

• Mark Swihart · Minneapolis, US
• Xuegeng Li · Sunnyvale, US
• Yuanqing He · Newburgh, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 9, 2004
• Grant date: May 13, 2008
• Expiry date: Mar 9, 2024

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S977/814
• WIPO field: Surface technology, coating
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A process for producing brightly photoluminescent silicon nanoparticles with an emission spanning the visible spectrum is disclosed. In one aspect, the process involves reacting a silicon precursor in the presence of a sheath gas with heat from a radiation beam under conditions effective to produce silicon nanoparticles and acid etching the silicon nanoparticles under conditions effective to produce photoluminescent silicon nanoparticles. Methods for stabilizing photoluminescence of photoluminescent silicon nanoparticles are also disclosed.