Low energy electron irradiation induced carbon etching: Triggering carbon film reacting with oxygen from SiO2 substrateViews [2926] Delivery time :2016-07-28 11:43:42

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 109, 053104 (2016)

Low energy electron irradiation induced carbon etching: Triggering carbon
film reacting with oxygen from SiO2 substrate

Cheng Chen,^1,2 Chao Wang,^1,a) and Dongfeng Diao ^1,a)

1 Institute of Nanosurface Science and Engineering (INSE), Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
2 Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province,
College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
(Received 19 April 2016; accepted 21 July 2016; published online 2 August 2016)

We report low-energy (50–200 eV) electron irradiation induced etching of thin carbon films on a SiO2
substrate. The etching mechanism was interpreted that electron irradiation stimulated the dissociation
of the carbon film and SiO2, and then triggered the carbon film reacting with oxygen from the SiO2 substrate.
A requirement for triggering the etching of the carbon film is that the incident electron penetrates
through the whole carbon film, which is related to both irradiation energy and film thickness. This study
provides a convenient electron-assisted etching with the precursor substrate, which sheds light on an
efficient pathway to the fabrication of nanodevices and nanosurfaces. VC 2016 Author(s). All article
content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4960194]