Some Initial Results on Modification of aC:H Films by Pulsed Laser Irradiation

Abstract

It has recently been shown both theoretically and experimentally that a significant modification of the aC:H films is possible using UV irradiation even with a very low irradiation fluence. Some initial results on the modification of aC:H films with thickness of about 40 nm with UV laser irradiation are presented here. The fourth harmonic (λ = 266 nm) of a Nd:YAG laser system (the fundamental wavelength λ = 1064 nm) was used in our experiments. The modified areas of the aC:H films were characterized by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy as well as by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A significant modification of aC:H films under certain conditions (laser irradiation fluence and modification modes) to multi-layer graphene accompanied by ablation of a part of the film was established. It was also found that similar aC:H films deposited on 330 nm SiO2/Si substrates did not undergo significant modification under these conditions.