X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy on implanted argon as a tool to follow local structural changes in thin films

Keeping argon under a graphene lid—Argon intercalation between graphene and nickel(111)

“…This is in line 162 with argon TPD spectra, which show that argon desorption from the 163 surface-near region is completed at this temperature, when Ar is 164 implanted with 1 keV kinetic energy [31]. as described for other materials such as ruthenium [33,34], aluminum 191 or silicon [35,36], where two Ar contributions are found in XPS. Fig.…”

“…the attachment of OH or H groups, the electronic 31 structure and resistivity of graphene can significantly be altered, or 32 even changed from semi-metallic to semi-conducting [7,8]. Besides its 33 electronic structure, also the mechanical and chemical properties of 34 graphene are of interest: The atomic structure of graphene, that is, 35 close packed six membered rings of carbon atoms, is proposed to be 36 helium leak tight, and it was therefore suggested to be used as a gas bar-37 rier [9]. In this context, applications for gas containment, gas separation 38 [10][11][12], or protective coatings are discussed [13][14][15].…”

Nanobubbles at GPa Pressure under Graphene

“…Such interpretation is consistent with a previous photoemission study on Ar NB embedded in Si and α-Al 2 O 3 . 29 The inspection of the spectra in Figure 2(f) reveals a clear transition from 2D to 3D character upon annealing. As shown in Figure 2(g), the sum of the 2D and 3D components is almost constant up to 700 • C. The subsequent decrease in intensity is compatible with self-screening effects, following the significant increase of the protrusion height evidenced by our STM data.…”

“…1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Similar effects have already been observed for noble-gas NB in Al. 29,30 They are interpreted as due to variations in the electron screening of the metal in response to the core-hole in the photoemission final state. Importantly, such variations are dependent on the NB radius, suggesting a relationship between BE variation and bubble size.…”

Embedded argon as a tool for sampling local structure in thin plasma deposited aluminum oxide films

“…For example, the NG may exist in the form of bubbles, whose sizes can be inferred from the magnitude of the BE shift of the NG. [5][6][7][8][9][10] It is also possible to establish a correlation between BE shifts and structural characteristics of the films. This is also applicable to semiconducting matrices, where BE shifts are due to a mixture of initial and final state effects.…”