Growth and characterization of branched carbon nanostructures arrays in nano-patterned surfaces from porous silicon substrates

A method to grow branched carbon nanostructures arrays is presented. We employ the electron-beam-induced deposition method using a transmission electron microscope in poor vacuum conditions where hydrocarbons are present in the chamber. The hydrocarbons are attracted to the substrates by the local electric fields. Saw-tooth nano-patterns were made with a focused ion beam in porous silicon substrates with high porosity in order to create sites with high-local electric fields. We found that the adequate ion dose to create well-defined saw-tooth nano-patterns was between 8 and 10 nC/μm2. Raman and electron energy-loss spectroscopy on the branched carbon nanostructures show a high concentration of sp2 sites suggesting that they are made of graphite-like hydrogenated amorphous carbon. Selected area electron diffraction, high-resolution images and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) are also presented.