Bismuth (Bi) thin films and nanoparticles were synthesized using Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. Bismuth thin films and nanoparticles were synthesized at various substrate temperature of 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 °C. The properties of bismuth thin films and nanoparticles were examined using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and electrical properties (I-V) measurement. The thin films of Bi were deposited at substrate temperatures of 25, 50 and 75 °C, however, nanoparticles were synthesized when substrate temperatures were 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 °C. The thickness of Bi thin films and height also the size of the nanoparticles increases with the substrate temperature. The surfaces of the Bi thin films and nanoparticles were oxidized in atmospheric pressure and at room temperature. The oxidized surfaces of the nanoparticles and thin films were studied using XPS. The Raman spectroscopy and XRD studies confirm that the synthesized thin films and nanoparticles are of Bi metal of hexagonal crystal structure.

Abstrac i
Acknowledgement ii
Table of Contents iii
List of Tables v
List of Figures v
List of Equations ix
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Bismuth 1
1.2 Silicon 2
1.3 Bismuth Oxide 3
1.4 Synthesis of Bismuth/bismuth oxide 6
1.5 Motivation 8
Chapter 2 Synthesis and Characterization Techniques 9
2.1 Synthesis techniques 10
2.2 Characterization techniques 13
2.2.1Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) … 14
2.2.2 X-ray Difraction (XRD) 16
2.2.3 X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) 18
2.2.5 Raman spectroscopy 20
Chapter 3 Result and Discussions 23
3.1 Morphological studies 23
3.2 X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies 30
3.3 Crystal Structure studies 33
3.4 Raman spectroscopy 36
3.5 IV curve measurement 38
Chapter 4 Conclusion 41
References 43

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