Dynamics of amorphous carbon film growth by pulsed laser deposition: kinetic energy of the incident particles

Abstract

Thin films of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The growth mechanisms of ta-C were investigated. Previous work has addressed the nature and speed of the particles ejected from graphite by pulsed IR (1064 nm) and UV (248 nm) radiation, and the extent to which the kinetic energy of the ejected particles determines the character of the resultant films. This work continues the investigation of the effect of incident particle kinetic energy on the character of these diamond-like films grown with UV radiation. Films were grown with and without the more energetic charged particles in the laser induced plume and were found to be virtually identical when evaluated by valence and core level electron energy loss spectroscopy, as well as Raman spectroscopy. These data suggest that while the kinetic energy of the incident particles plays a significant role in the formation of tetrahedrally bonded carbon films by PLD, even the neutral particles ablated by 248 nm light have sufficient kinetic energy to form such films. While the more energetic charged particles may act to enhance the diamond-like characteristics of the film, they are not essential to the formation of ta-C by this process.