The article presents the results of experiments on the synthesis of carbon nanofibers by thermal chemical vapor deposition using copper nanopowders obtained by electric explosion of wire as catalysts. Stable growth of carbon nanofibers was carried out at temperatures significantly lower than normally used. The process parameters that are optimal for low-temperature growth of carbon nanofibers have been identified during the performed experiments. The synthesized samples have different diameters and morphology (from spiral to direct). Copper clusters are both at the ends and inside the fibers. The results of IR spectroscopy indicate that the structure of the obtained carbon nanofibers is polymeric. X-ray analysis revealed the presence of a halo on the diffraction patterns at small values of the angle 2θ, which proves that the grown structures have an amorphous nature. There are no groups that are responsible for long-range order in all Raman spectra. Studies by transmission electron microscopy showed that nanostructures do not have an internal channel and nanofibers are solid.

Thick silicon carbide films were grown on sapphire (0001) and silicon (111) substrates using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Diethylmethylsilane (DEMS) has been used as a single precursor, which contain Si and C atoms in the same molecule, without any carrier or bubbler gas. Atomic structure, surface composition and morphology have been investigated by XRD, AES, SEM and AFM analysis. SiC films of 5-7 micron thickness were grown at a rate of ~ 40 nm/min on sapphire (0001) and Si (111) substrates. The films grown at low temperature (850 ºC and 900 ºC) on both substrates show crystalline 3C-SiC in the (111) orientation. XRD results show that the orientation of the crystal structure does not depend of the substrate orientation AFM pictures of SiC films grown on sapphire (0001) exhibit more crystalline order as compared to films grown on the Si (111) substrates. AES of the grown films shows that in both cases the Si peak intensity is greater than that of carbon. This work shows promise for the development of alternative processes for developing low cost, large area substrates for application to IIInitrides LED and UV photodetector fabrication and also for gas detector application.

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The results of experiments on the synthesis of micro- and nano-diamonds by an oxy-acetylene torch on the surface of the pre-deposited copper thin films are presented in this article. The influence of thickness of a buffer copper film and the ratio of the concentrations of oxygen and acetylene on the structure of the deposited samples has been studied in the course of the conducted experiments. The studies by Raman scattering and scanning electron microscopy showed that the synthesis of micro- and nano-diamonds occurs under certain experimental conditions. From the results of the analysis of the obtained samples by the methods of Raman scattering and scanning electron microscopy, it was determined that the deposition time of the copper films and consequently its thickness mainly influence on the structure formation of diamond crystals. On copper films grown for 30 min, the Raman scattering method showed a shift of the diamond peak from the standard (1332 cm‒1) to the low-frequency band (1331.3 cm‒1), which may occur after the presence of stress in the crystals. The results of the investigation showed that with increasing of synthesis time take place smoothing of the facets of crystallites (scanning electron microscopy) and decrease in intensity of the diamond peaks (Raman scattering method).