Growth of ErAs Nanoparticles by Pulsed Laser Ablation in an Inert Environment

The incorporation of ErAs nanoparticles into III–V semiconductor films has been shown to dramatically alter the properties of the resulting nanocomposite, while maintaining an epitaxial relationship throughout the film. Even though these composites have been extensively studied, little work has been done on the particles themselves, absent of the host matrix. In this paper, we demonstrate ErAs nanoparticle growth outside of a host matrix by laser ablation in an inert environment. Rietveld refinement was used to determine the compositions of ablation targets and resulting powders to better understand the requirements for the growth of binary nanoparticles from pressed powder targets and the limiting factors for particle growth. Powders with an ErAs concentration of 67.1% were obtained, and higher concentrations are expected to be achieved with higher purity targets.