Structural, Nanomechanical, and Field Emission Properties of Amorphous Carbon Films Having Embedded Nanocrystallites Deposited by Filtered Anodic Jet Carbon Arc Technique

Abstract

This paper reports the effect of substrate bias on the structural, nanomechanical, and field emission properties of amorphous carbon films having embedded nanocrystallites (a-C:nc films) deposited by filtered anodic jet carbon arc technique. X-ray diffraction results exhibit predominantly an amorphous nature of the films. High-resolution transmission electron microscope images showed the amorphous nature of the films with nanocrystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix. Ultrafine nanograined microstructures with average grain size between 20 and 30 nm are observed throughout the film with a majority of the grains of single crystallites. A strong influence of substrate bias has been observed on the structural, nanomechanical, and field emission properties. Maximum nanohardness (H) of 58.3 GPa, elastic modulus (E) of 426.2 GPa, and H/E of 0.136 have been observed in a-C:nc films deposited at −60 V substrate bias which showed 82.6% sp3 content.

Excellent field emission with enhanced photodetection behavior of multiwalled carbon nanotubes: experimental and theoretical study

“…1. 3,5 The field was applied between two electrodes and the electrons were released from the cathode, traveling towards the anode.…”

“…Carbon-based field emitters have been investigated extensively to give better field emission devices. 1–5 Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) 6 have exceptional physical, chemical, mechanical and structural properties, and they are the perfect quantum system for exploring the one-dimensional physics and applications in nanoscale devices. The CNT growth 7 can be achieved by using many different methods such as arc discharge, laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition methods, but the chemical vapor deposition is the best way to synthesize high purity and high yield carbon nanotubes.…”

Improvement of structure and quality of nanoscale multilayered composite coatings, deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition method

“…The hardness (HV) of coatings was determined by measuring the indentation at low loads, according to the method of Panwar et al 33 and Tripathi et al, 34 which was carried out on a Micro-Hardness Tester (CSM Instruments, Switzerland) microindenter at a fixed load of 300 mN. The penetration depth of the indenter was monitored so that it did not exceed 10-20% of the coating thickness to limit the influence of the substrate.…”

Pulsed laser deposition of graphite in air and in vacuum for field emission studies

“…Carbon thin films and coatings deposited by various techniques have been reported. Chemical vapour deposition (CVD), particularly appropriate for crystalline diamond like films [7], plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of CNT hybrid carbon films [8], ion beam deposition for DLC films [9], vacuum arc deposition for hard tribological coatings and nanostructured carbon films [10,11], and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) for synthesis of nanostructures and meta-stable materials [5,12,13].…”