The role of ion dose on C implanted multilayered graphene films in Ni as host substrate

Abstract In this paper, we report formation of single and multilayer graphene synthesized by varied doses of implanted carbon ions in Ni as a host medium. 1 MeV energetic C ions with a dose in the range from 10 12 ions/cm 2 to 10 15 ions/cm 2 were implanted in thermally evaporated Ni films on glass and Si substrates. XRD, SEM and AFM were employed to study the structure and morphology of the synthesized graphene. A sharp Raman G band was observed, which overlapped with a very broad Raman D band due to presence of amorphous C in the synthesized structures. The lineshape analysis of Raman 2D bands confirmed the formation of monolayer, bilayers and four layers of graphene layers. The splitting observed in the Raman 2D mode was attributed to the interlayer disorders caused by Ni traces. In the end it was concluded that the dose rate and quality of Ni film were critical for the synthesis of graphene or graphene like multilayered films. The synthesis of graphene was also found to depend on the substrate as adhesion and growth of Ni on various substrates was different. In present experiments, dose of 10 15 ions/cm 2 of 1 MeV C ions was suitable in case of Si substrates where as 10 14 ions/cm 2 dose rate was acceptable lower limit for the synthesis of single layer grapheme on glass substrate.