LASER-DRIVEN SYNTHESIS OF CARBON AND SILICON CLUSTERS FROM GAS-PHASE REACTANTS

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Abstract
A newly developed technique is employed for the production of carbon and silicon cluster beams starting from gaseous compounds. It is based on the CO 2-laser-induced decomposition of molecular gases containing carbon and silicon, such as CO 2H2 and SiH 4, in a flow reactor. In order to decompose acetylene, SF 6 is used as a sensitizer. By introducing a skimmer into the reaction zone, the generated silicon and carbon clusters are transferred to free molecular flow and analyzed with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. It is shown that the technique can be efficiently employed to produce fullerenes C 60 and C 70 and, in the case of silicon, ultrapure nanosized particles of up to 3-nm diameter.

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