Preparation and characterization of La2O3 doped diamond-like carbon nanofilms (I): Structure analysis

Twelve La2O3 doped diamond-like carbon (DLC) nanofilms were deposited using unbalanced dual-magnetron sputtering. AFM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, AES, XPS, and TEM were employed to investigate the deposited films. The results show that the La2O3 is formed on the surface and in the inner of the DLC films. Raman spectra exhibit obvious amorphous DLC character. XRD spectra and HRTEM indicate the La2O3 doped DLC films are amorphous, and La2O3 is dissolved and distributed in the amorphous DLC matrix. While, when the La2O3 content attains to 10%, nanocrystalline grain with a diameter of about 2 nm is observed, and the Fourier transformation spectroscopy also displays the obvious cryatalline character.