Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xfwgj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T22:50:38.502Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

1.8 MeV Electron Bombardment Induced Structural Changes on Graphite Surfaces Observed by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Y. J. Chen ,
I. H. Wilson ,
Lin Libin  and
J. B. Xu
Y. J. Chen
Affiliation:
Dept. of Electronic Engineering and Materials Technology Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong
I. H. Wilson
Affiliation:
Dept. of Electronic Engineering and Materials Technology Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong
Lin Libin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, P. R. China
J. B. Xu
Affiliation:
Dept. of Electronic Engineering and Materials Technology Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N. T., Hong Kong
Get access

Abstract

Highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) was irradiated with 1.8 MeV electrons at 45° and near grazing (86°) angles of incidence. For doses up to 1016 cm−2 the surface for the case of 45° incidence, observed by scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), remained the same as the original sample showing only the usual periodic atomic corrugation. For near grazing incidence, at a dose of 5×10−2 cm−2, nm-hillocks are observed, some elongated along the direction of the beam incidence. These are attributed to the effects of single electron-carbon interactions in the top surface layers. At a dose of 5×1014 cm−2 (near grazing incidence) STM observations show an anomalously large (period 2.5 to 17 nm) superperiodicity superimposed on the normal 0.246 nm atomic spacing of graphite. This Moiré-like pattern suggests that the corrugations are electronic as well as topographic in origin. We propose that near grazing incidence electron irradiation causes a break-up of the surface layers into fragments, largely retaining the six-fold atomic rings, that rotate by a small angle resulting in the observed pattern by interaction with the deeper bulkstructure layers.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 439: Symposium B – Microstructure Evolution During Irradiation , 1996 , 703
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Wilson, I. H., Zheng, N. J., Knipping, U., and Tsong, I. S. T., Phys. Rev. B 38, 8444 (1988); Appl. Phys. Lett. 53(21), 2039 (1988); J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A7(4), 2840 (1989). For recent reviews, see: I. H. Wilson, Y. J. Chen, J. B. Xu, R A. B. Devine, and C. Jeynes, Surf. Interface Anal. (1996) (in print), and references therein.Google Scholar
2. See, for example, Porte, L., Phaner, M., de Villeneuve, C. H., Moncoffre, N., and Tousset, J., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B44, 116–119 (1989); R. Coratger, A. Claverie, F. Ajustron, and J. Beauvillain, Surf. Sci. 227, 7–14 (1990).Google Scholar
3. Marmier, P.and Sheldon, E., Physics of Nuclei and Particles, Vol.1, Chapter 4, Academic Press Inc., New York, 1969.Google Scholar
4. Balanzat, E.and Bouffard, S., in Materials under Irradiation, edited by Dunlop, A., Rullier-Albenque, F., Jaouen, C., Templier, C., and Davenas, J. (Trans Tech Publications Ltd, 1993), p. 31.Google Scholar
5. Kuwabara, M., Clarke, D. R, and Smith, D. A., Appl. Phys. Lett. 56, 2396 (1990).Google Scholar
6. Buchley, J. E., Wragg, J. L., White, H. W., Bruckdorfer, A., and Worcester, D. L., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B9, 1079 (1991).Google Scholar
7. Koike, J.and Pedraza, D. F., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., Vol.279, 67 (1993); J. Mater. Res. 9, 1899 (1994).Google Scholar