Electron Diffraction Analysis of the Structure of Carbon Nanopillars along the Growth Direction

• Published in: Surface investigation, x-ray, synchrotron and neutron techniques Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 473 - 479
• Main Authors: Volkov, R. L., Borgardt, N. I., Gromov, D. G., Dubkov, S. V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01.05.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Carbon; Catalysis; Chemical vapor deposition; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crystal structure; Crystallinity; Electron diffraction; Electrons; Foils; Materials Science; Organic chemistry; Silicon substrates; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Transmission electron microscopy; synthetic carbon materials; electron diffraction analysis; focused ion beam; plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor deposition; carbon crystallites; transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 1027-4510; 1819-7094
• DOI: 10.1134/S1027451018030199

The structure of carbon nanopillars grown without catalysis by low-temperature plasmaenhanced-chemical-vapor deposition on a silicon substrate is investigated using the suggested focused ion beam technique for preparing a sample composed of several thin plan-view foils. Studying the prepared sample by electron diffraction and bright-field transmission electron microscopy allows determination of the variation of the two-dimensionally ordered crystallite fraction along the growth direction. It us established that the crystalline phase fraction inside the nanopillars gradually decreases during the growth process. Nearly 90% of the crystalline material is located between the base and the middle of the nanopillars while their upper parts almost entirely consist of amorphous carbon.