Rapid growth of amorphous carbon films on the inner surface of micron-thick and hollow-core fibers

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 544; pp. 482 - 486
• Main Authors: Ji, Longfei, Liu, Dongping, Zhou, Xinwei, Song, Ying, Ni, Weiyuan, Niu, Jinhai, Fan, Hongyu
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: Carbon films; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Microplasma; PECVD; Physics; Structure and morphology; thickness; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Theory and models of film growth; Thin film structure and morphology; Carbon films; Microplasma; PECVD; Methane; Scanning electron microscopy; Confinement; Amorphous thin film; Pressure effects; Atmospheric pressure; Hydrocarbons; Quartz; Dispersive spectrometry; Carbon; Layer thickness; Surface states; Acetylene; Fibers; Thin films; CVD; Low pressure; Growth mechanism; Optical films
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.072

Ultrathick (>25μm) carbon films were obtained on the inner surface of hollow and micron-thick quartz fibers by confining CH4/He or C2H2/He microplasmas in their hollow cores. The resulting carbon films were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The microplasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique resulted in the uniform growth of amorphous carbon films on the inner surface of very long (>1m) hollow-core fibers. Film deposition is performed by using microplasmas at atmospheric pressure and at 50Pa. The carbon films obtained with the latter show the smooth inner surfaces and the well continuity across the film/optical fiber. Low-pressure CH4/He and C2H2/He microplasmas can lead to a rapid growth (~2.00μm/min) of carbon films with their thickness of >25μm. The optical emission measurements show that various hydrocarbon species were formed in these depositing microplasmas due to the collisions between CH4/C2H2 molecules and energetic species. The microplasma-enhanced CVD technique running without the complicated fabrication processes shows its potentials for rapidly depositing the overlong carbon tubes with their inner diameters of tens of microns. •The microplasma device is applied for coating deposition inside hollow-core fibers.•The microplasma device results in >25μm-thick carbon films.•The microplasma device is simple for deposition of ultralong carbon tubes.