Surface modification of diamond-like carbon films to graphene under low energy ion beam irradiation

► Modification of the surface of diamond-like carbon to graphene. ► Modification by low-energy Ar ion irradiation. ► Point defect creation and enhanced diffusion caused by the ion bombardment enable growth of nano-sized graphene particles at low temperature. Low-energy ion beam modification was proposed to create graphene on the top of the insulated diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. In such low-temperature process the surface of the amorphous carbon could crystallize to graphene as a result of point defect creation and enhanced diffusion caused by the ion bombardment. In the experiment 130eV argon ion irradiation was used. After the modification the resistivity of the sample surface drops and the underlying DLC remained highly insulating. Raman spectra of the samples measured at 633nm showed partial crystallization and were similar to the spectra of defected graphene. This result is very encouraging and we hope that by improving this technology it will be possible to fabricate defect-free graphene, which can be used in electronics without transfer to other substrates.