Spontaneous formation of nanometric multilayers of metal-carbon films by up-hill diffusion during growth

Corbella, Carles; Echebarria, Blas; Ramírez‐Piscina, L.; Pascual, E.; Andújar, J.L.; Bertrán, E.

doi:10.1063/1.2135385

Cited by 29 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…These expectations are supported by previously reported vertical composition modulations during perpendicular iPVD or ion assisted growth of carbontransition metals, [24][25][26]33 Au-SiO 2 48 or Au-Ni. 27 Moreover, changing the tilting or in-plane angle during growth provides the potential to sculpt the patterns into complex structures such as chevrons and helices.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…28,29 Thermodynamic forces lead to a precipitation of metal carbide or pure metal phase in the carbon matrix. [24][25][26]33,43,44 Carbon ions continue to be deposited onto the carbon matrix or onto the clusters themselves. Eventually excess carbon segregates to surfaces of and spaces between the clusters, encapsulating the metal and forming a continuous carbon layer.…”

Section: -4mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[24][25][26][27] Incoming energetic ions induce atomic displacements along their path due to collisions. 28,29 This results in collision-induced random walks of atoms in the near surface layer defined by the ion range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nanoscale precipitation patterns in carbon–nickel nanocomposite thin films: Period and tilt control via ion energy and deposition angle

Abrasonis

Oates

Kovács

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

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Periodic precipitation patterns in C:Ni nanocomposites grown by energetic ion codeposition are investigated. Films were grown at room temperature by ionized physical vapor deposition using a pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc. We reveal the role of the film composition, ion energy and incidence angle on the film morphology using transmission electron microscopy and grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering. Under these growth conditions, phase separation occurs in a thin surface layer which has a high atomic mobility due to energetic ion impacts. This layer is an advancing reaction front, which switches to an oscillatory mode, producing periodic precipitation patterns. Our results show that the ion induced atomic mobility is not random, as it would be in the case of thermal diffusion but conserves to a large extent the initial direction of the incoming ions. This results in a tilted pattern under oblique ion incidence. A dependence of the nanopattern periodicity and tilt on the growth parameters is established and pattern morphology control via ion velocity is demonstrated.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: -4mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nanoscale precipitation patterns in carbon–nickel nanocomposite thin films: Period and tilt control via ion energy and deposition angle

Abrasonis

Oates

Kovács

et al. 2010

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…The use of pulses has also beneficial effects when growing DLC and metal-containing DLC films by pulsed-dc reactive magnetron sputtering. 26,27 Used in parallel with film deposition, plasma diagnostics ensure process control and reproducibility of the process. Optical emission spectroscopy ͑OES͒, 28,29 quadrupole mass spectrometry ͑QMS͒, 30,31 and diagnostics by means of a retarding field energy analyzer ͑RFEA͒ 32 and a Langmuir probe [33][34][35] are the most common plasma characterization techniques.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma parameters of pulsed-dc discharges in methane used to deposit diamondlike carbon films

Corbella

Rubio‐Roy

Bertrán

et al. 2009

Journal of Applied Physics

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Here we approximate the plasma kinetics responsible for diamondlike carbon ͑DLC͒ depositions that result from pulsed-dc discharges. The DLC films were deposited at room temperature by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition ͑PECVD͒ in a methane ͑CH 4 ͒ atmosphere at 10 Pa. We compared the plasma characteristics of asymmetric bipolar pulsed-dc discharges at 100 kHz to those produced by a radio frequency ͑rf͒ source. The electrical discharges were monitored by a computer-controlled Langmuir probe operating in time-resolved mode. The acquisition system provided the intensity-voltage ͑I-V͒ characteristics with a time resolution of 1 s. This facilitated the discussion of the variation in plasma parameters within a pulse cycle as a function of the pulse waveform and the peak voltage. The electron distribution was clearly divided into high-and low-energy Maxwellian populations of electrons ͑a bi-Maxwellian population͒ at the beginning of the negative voltage region of the pulse. We ascribe this to intense stochastic heating due to the rapid advancing of the sheath edge. The hot population had an electron temperature T e hot of over 10 eV and an initial low density n e hot which decreased to zero. Cold electrons of temperature T e cold ϳ 1 eV represented the majority of each discharge. The density of cold electrons n e cold showed a monotonic increase over time within the negative pulse, peaking at almost 7 ϫ 10 10 cm −3 , corresponding to the cooling of the hot electrons. The plasma potential V p of ϳ30 V underwent a smooth increase during the pulse and fell at the end of the negative region. Different rates of CH 4 conversion were calculated from the DLC deposition rate. These were explained in terms of the specific activation energy E a and the conversion factor x dep associated with the plasma processes. The work deepens our understanding of the advantages of using pulsed power supplies for the PECVD of hard metallic and protective coatings for industrial applications ͑optics, biomedicine, and electronics͒.

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“…[3][4][5][6][7] Despite the experimental accomplishments, understanding of the physical mechanism and the driving force is still rather limited, partially due to the fact that a high spatial resolution examination of the structures were not performed. Self-assembling is often associated with surface irradiation, 2,6,7 high temperature, 7 metal species and content, 5,7 deposition rate, 4 etc.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Tunable self-organization of nanocomposite multilayers

Chen

Pei

Shaha

et al. 2010

Applied Physics Letters

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In this letter we report the controlled growth and microstructural evolution of self-assembled nanocomposite multilayers that are induced by surface ion-impingement. The nanoscale structures together with chemical composition, especially at the growing front, have been investigated with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Concurrent ion impingement of growing films produces an amorphous capping layer 3 nm in thickness where spatially modulated phase separation is initiated. It is shown that the modulation of multilayers as controlled by the self-organization of nanocrystallites below the capping layer, can be tuned through the entire film.

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Spontaneous formation of nanometric multilayers of metal-carbon films by up-hill diffusion during growth

Cited by 29 publications

References 16 publications

Nanoscale precipitation patterns in carbon–nickel nanocomposite thin films: Period and tilt control via ion energy and deposition angle

Nanoscale precipitation patterns in carbon–nickel nanocomposite thin films: Period and tilt control via ion energy and deposition angle

Plasma parameters of pulsed-dc discharges in methane used to deposit diamondlike carbon films

Tunable self-organization of nanocomposite multilayers

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