Preferred Orientation of Cu<sub>2</sub>O Nano-/Micro-Protrusions Grown by Ar Ion Irradiation

Abstract

We have developed a bottom-up growth technology for nanostructures from a Cu surface by Ar ion irradiation. Cu2O conical nano-/micro-protrusions have been nucleated and grown from the surface of a preoxidized Cu plate by Ar ion irradiation in low vacuum. In this study, the growth direction or preferred orientation of the protrusions was analysed using glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) analysis and an X-ray diffraction pole figure (XRD-PF) measurement. The GAXRD patterns showed that the main phase of the product obtained by Ar irradiation was Cu2O, shown as the highest peak of Cu2O (111), and CuO was additionally formed. The intensity ratio of Cu2O (110) to Cu2O (111) increased as the X-ray incident angle decreased from 10.0 to 0.5 deg, which indicated that the basal plane of the protrusions including the substrate was (110). Additionally, the XRD-PF {011}<001> 3-D plots showed the <110> preferred orientation of the product. These results explain that the growth direction or preferred orientation of the Cu2O protrusions is mainly <110>. The growth direction of the protrusions was separated and confirmed as <110> by checking the electron backscatter diffraction pattern (EBSP) of each protrusion.