ABSTRACT
Nanoparticles (NPs) are particles of any shape, with dimensions ranging between 1 and 100 nanometres, which behave as whole units with respect to their transport and properties. NPs differ from their bulk counterparts in many respects. Due to the ubiquity of silicon (Si) in a multitude of technological applications, various physical and chemical methods have been utilised for the fabrication of Si NPs. During recent years, magnetron sputtering has been widely utilised to synthesise single- and multi-component metal and semiconductor NPs, via subsequent inert-gas cooling and gas- phase condensation of the sputtered atomic vapour. An inline quadrupole mass filter (QMF) positioned immediately after the sputtering reactor further ensures the size-selected monodisperse nature of the deposition. The under- lying principle behind its function is based on the fact that the beam contains single-charged NPs. The QMF consists of few parallel cylindrical rods; when oscillating electric fields are applied to them, NPs passing through maintain particular trajectories based on their mass-to-charge ratio.
