Structural modification of fullerene thin films by highly charged iron ions

Abstract

In this paper, the results of structural modification of fullerene thin films bombarded by highly charged iron ions (Fe6+) are presented. The properties of as-deposited and irradiated fullerene thin films have been investigated by Raman spectroscopy, UV/Vis spectrophotometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The results of Raman spectroscopy have indicated structural changes of irradiated thin films depending on fluences. It was found that iron doped fullerene films are dominated by sp3 rather than sp2 after bombardment which might be due to formation of nanodiamond structures. AFM analysis showed that the ion beam had destroyed the surface ordering. The optical band gap was found to be in the range of 0.6 to 1.4 eV for irradiated films by Fe6+ ions at the highest fluences.