Structural changes of silicon upon high-energy milling investigated by Raman spectroscopy

This study showed pronounced changes in the Raman scattering of silicon powder during high-energy ball milling. The powders were milled for 1–18 h in a steel ball mill in argon. The approximate pressure imposed on particles was 2 GPa. The spectra of the as-milled powders were compared with the initial silicon. It was found from the Raman peak position shifts that milling generated strains in the silicon lattice, bringing about a transformation of cubic silicon to tetragonal silicon and amorphization. The relative amount of new phases was determined from the area under the measured Raman peaks. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)