Fabrication of crystalline silicon spheres by selective laser heating in liquid medium

Micrometer and submicrometer crystalline silicon spheres were fabricated by selective laser heating of irregular silicon particles in liquid medium. TEM, SEM, XRD, and XPS characterized the structure and morphology of the prepared silicon spheres. The results suggested that they were spherical with a single crystalline structure. In this study, the formation mechanism of the spheres is analyzed, and the process parameters are optimized to obtain high-quality silicon spheres. A theoretical deduction regarding the relationship between critical laser energy density and particle size is also discussed, by which we can predict that larger spheres can be obtained at higher laser energy densities.