Physical characterization of pulsed laser deposition of diamond-like nanostructures

Abstract

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films can be produced by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique in vacuum. Energetic laser pulses, with intensity of the order of 10 10 W/cm 2 , can be employed to generate hot carbon plasmas from glassy carbon ablation. Particles ejected from plasma can be deposited and/or ion implanted on different substrates. Energetic particles diffuse on the substrate surface and may generate nucleation and nanostructures. In the present work a Nd:Yag laser radiation, 532 nm wavelength, 9 ns pulse duration and 30 Hz repetition rate, was employed to grow thin DLC films on SiO 2 substrates, placed at different distances and angles from the target. The PLD-generated plasma can be controlled "on line" by mass quadrupole spectrometry and time-of-flight techniques, in order to evaluate the atomic and molecular kinetic energy distributions. "Off line" investigations were performed on the deposited films by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), infrared-absorption spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. Nanostructures with cubic shape and 300 nm average size growth on SiO2 surface are investigated and discussed.

Reduction of graphene oxide foils by IR laser irradiation in air

“…The ablation removes material converted in ionized vapor that can be used for laser pulse deposition of thin carbon films on suitable substrates, as reported in the literature [24].…”