Ultrananocrystalline diamond-like carbon (UN-DLC) assembled on epitaxial ZnO film by PLD technique and SIMS Raman Rutherford spectroscopic fingerprint investigation

AbstractNanocomposite materials coating opens up tremendous opportunities in the development of commercial products for household to industrial applications. In this present article, we are reporting the formation of 10‐nm carbon (C) layer underneath the 6‐nm ZnO epitaxial thin‐film grown on simple quarts or Si(100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition. As‐obtained nanocrystalline carbon layers between the Si(100) and ZnO and above ZnO epitaxial film were studied by micro‐Raman, secondary ion mass (SIMS), and resonant Rutherford backscattering (RRBS) spectroscopic methods. The carbon diffusivity analysis revealed that the diffusion at nanoscale is governed predominantly by a nonlinear Fick's law rather than the Soret‐Ludwig law. Quantum diffusion dominates the classical diffusion and carbon diffusivity into ZnO layer and was found to be ~7.8 × 10−12 cm2 s−1. This diffusion explains the doping profiles of ZnO layer up to its surface where carbon packing suggests presence of ultrananocrystalline‐diamond‐like‐carbon (UN‐DLC) thin films revealed by Raman spectroscopy.