Graphite film formation by chemical vapor deposition on Ni coated sapphire Original Research Article

Graphite thin films can be formed by CVD on Ni films with a thickness of 500 Å deposited on sapphire (110), (001) and (012) faces. The c-axis of the graphite film deposited on Ni/sapphire (110) is almost perpendicular to the sapphire surface. However, its structure is not homogeneous nor flat. The Auger analyses for graphite/Ni/(110) indicate that there are Ni islands and the graphite film covers both the Ni islands and the bare sapphire surface. It is also found that oxygen atoms are removed from the sapphire surface during CVD and a mixing layer of Ni and Al appears. The cystallinity, orientation alignment and surface morphology of the graphite films formed on Ni/sapphire (001) and Ni/sapphire (012) are worse than those deposited on Ni/sapphire (110).