Optical Absorption and Electrical Conductivity of Amorphous Carbon Thin Films from Camphor: A Natural Source

Abstract

Thin films of carbon have been deposited on n-type single-crystal silicon and quartz substrates by simple ion beam sputtering of camphoric carbon, obtained from camphor, a natural source. Optical absorption coefficients of 104–105 cm-1 have been obtained for the as-deposited and annealed films and the absorption coefficient increased upon annealing. The optical band-gap energy of the as-deposited camphoric carbon thin film derived from optical absorption measurements is 0.5 eV. Effects of annealing on various optical and electrical properties are studied, in light of the semiconducting nature of these films, through the electrical conduction mechanism. The results obtained are discussed and compared with the literature.

Electrical and electronic properties of nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (a-CNx) thin films

“…Amorphous carbon (a-C) films shows a semiconducting nature that are of great technological importance because as many of their properties can be tailored by varying the amount of diver's industrial application [2]. It also promotes the application in the field of semiconductor technology, such as in fabrication of photovoltaic solar cells [3], different electrical/electrochemical performances [4], electrochemical storage of energy in capacitors and electrodes [5], field emission devices [6] and micro humidity sensors.…”

Electrical and magnetic properties of electrodeposited nickel incorporated diamond-like carbon thin films

“…The electrical properties of DLC can appropriately be varied from insulating to highly conducting state with efficient incorporation of metals in it [21,25,26]. This variability renders DLC, more precisely metal-DLC to be potentially attractive and wonderful material for electronic applications.…”

“…The microstructure of DLC is complicated due to the presence of both and states; also the availability of large density of defect states in the optical band gap has been a limiting factor in its effective use in device application [21,25,26]. Such electronic properties render DLC, more precisely metal-DLC to be potentially attractive material for electronic and optoelectronic applications.…”

Study of pulsed laser-deposited phosphorus-doped carbon/p-silicon photovoltaic cell

“…This extraordinary property has increased interest in amorphous carbon thin films for device fabrication purpose and carbon has been emerging as an important material for the application in the field of electronic and optical devices. Appreciable work has already been done on amorphous thin film carbon grown on silicon substrate [1,2]. Carbon-based heterostructures such as, metal insulator semiconductor (MIS) diodes, Schottky diodes, heterojunction diodes [2,3] on silicon have already been reported and thereby demonstrate the potentiality of carbon materials in electronic devices.…”

“…Graphite is the most common solid target used in physical vapour deposition methods for carbon films. We have been working on semiconducting carbon, obtained from camphor (C 10 H 16 O), a natural source [1,4,5]. The starting precursor, C 10 H 16 O, has both sp 2 and sp 3 hybridized bonds while graphite has 100% sp 2 bonded structure.…”