Diamond-like carbon by pulsed laser deposition from a camphoric carbon target: effect of phosphorus incorporation

Abstract

DLC thin films were grown by XeCl excimer pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) at room temperature using a camphoric carbon (CC) target. To carry out doping, CC soot was mixed with varying amounts (1–7% by mass) of phosphorus (P) powder. The resistivity was observed to increase initially for the films deposited from a target containing 1% P. The resistivity then decreased sharply at first, and gradually thereafter, for the films deposited from targets with a higher P content. Raman, optical gap and the electrical resistivity studies suggest that the P incorporation in carbon films results in controlled doping for the films deposited from targets containing up to 5% P, and a higher P content induces graphitization by narrowing the optical gap.