Photon excitation effect on formation of graphene nanocrystallites during carbon film growth process

Abstract

In this article, we propose a method to deposit nanocrystallite embedded carbon films by electron cyclotron resonance plasma sputtering with photon irradiation cooperated with electron or Ar+ ion irradiation. We found photon irradiation can enhance the growth of graphene nanocrystallites during carbon film deposition. The energy transfer from the photon to the metastable carbon structure excites the growth of sp2 hybridized graphene nanocrystallites, and photon-excited electrons can be accelerated by the bias and further promote the graphene nanocrystallite growth. Photons are the second quantum medium we found that can be used to deposit nanocrystallite embedded carbon films, and their quantum properties with electric neutrality can help us to further understand the formation of the carbon nanocrystallite structure and may shed light on the quantum fabrication of desired materials.