Cupric oxide (CuO) films were prepared on various substrates by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique to investigate their effects on surface morphology. As the substrate temperature decreased, the film surface roughness was also observed to decrease. This trend was also correlated with the polycrystalline structure of the films. Deposition at low pressures produced greater surface roughness because larger crystallites emerged from the surface, while higher oxygen pressure under an adjusted target–substrate distance produced smaller crystallites and a smoother film surface.

Present red phosphor converters provide spectra dominated by sharp lines and suffer from availability and stability issues which are not ideal for color mixing in display or solid state lighting applications. We examine the use of mono dispersed 3 nm siliconnanoparticles, with inhomogeneously broadened red luminescence as an effective substitute for red phosphors. We tested a 3-phase hybrid nanophosphor consisting of ZnS:Ag, ZnS:Cu,Au,Al, and nanoparticles. Correlated color temperature is examined under UV and LED pumping in the range 254, 365–400 nm.

Silicon (Si) nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical etching process at ambient temperature. Field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV/Vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopic techniques were employed to examine the morphological structure and optical features of the synthesized Si nanoparticles. Effect of solvent and temperature on optical properties of Si nanoparticles is presented. We believe that at physiological pH Si nanoparticles have charged surface, because of high solubility in organic solvents.