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Electronic properties of graphite-like ion tracks in insulating tetrahedral amorphous carbon

Anne-Katrin Nix 1Daniel Schwen 1Carsten Ronning 1Johann Krauser 2Christina Trautmann 3Hans C. Hofsäss 1

1. Universität Göttingen, II. Physikalisches Institut, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, Goettingen 37077, Germany
2. Hochschule Harz, Friedrichstraße 57-59, Wernigerode 38855, Germany
3. Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Planckstraße 1, Darmstadt 64291, Germany

Abstract

We investigated the formation of quasi one-dimensional conducting filaments in diamond-like carbon (DLC) films by swift heavy ion irradiation. Various DLC films with thicknesses of several 100 nm were grown using mass separated ion beam deposition on highly conducting Si and Ni substrates. After deposition the films were irradiated with 1 GeV 238U ions with fluences between 109 and 1011 ions/cm2. Due to their high electronic energy loss of about 30 keV/nm the swift heavy ions graphitize the predominantly (80%) sp3-bound carbon film along their trajectories yielding conducting nanowires embedded in an insulating matrix. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) with conducting cantilevers and applied bias voltage the presence of conducting tracks was confirmed and their conductivities were determined to be several orders of magnitude higher than of the host matrix. Temperature dependent electrical measurements were performed on the irradiated samples at 300 K - 10 K with fields up to 5 V/μm. We will discuss the results with respect to contact resistances and possible one-dimensional conduction mechanisms within the tracks.

 

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Related papers

Presentation: Poster at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006, Symposium A, by Anne-Katrin Nix
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2006

Submitted: 2006-05-11 15:14
Revised:   2009-06-07 00:44