Electronic transport in amorphous carbon
Electronic transport in a-C films has been the subject of considerable debate. In this study, combined stress relaxation and electrical transport studies were used to identify the transport mechanism in a-C films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition. The stress relaxation was modeled by a first-order kinetic reaction involving transformation of 4-fold coordinated carbon atoms to 3-fold coordinated carbon atoms, and the distribution of activation energies for this process was determined. The activation energies were found to range from about 1 eV to over 2 eV, and using these activation energies, the increase in 3-fold carbon concentration with time-temperature annealing was obtained. Conductivity measurements were also performed as a function of time-temperature annealing. It was found that the conductivity of a-C films is exponentially proportional to increases in 3-fold carbon concentration. This result can be explained by thermally activated hopping along carbon 3-fold chains combined with chain-to-chain tunneling. From the data, a typical chain length was estimated to consist of 13 carbon atoms. The heterogeneous nature of the conductivity may explain the spatially localized electron emission which is observed in a-C assuming a tunnel barrier emission model.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 555540
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--97-1903C; CONF-9707129--; ON: DE98001320; BR: DP0301010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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