Plasma interactions with a HOPG surface studied by AFM and XPS

摘要

A combination of a novel plasma source, plasma diagnostics, XPS and tapping mode AFM techniques has been used to develop an overall picture of how plasma generated species interact with the basal planes of graphite. The chemical and topographical changes observed are not only dependent upon the gas used but the specific ions present in the plasma and their respective energies. For all the samples studied, changes were confined to the top 15A of the surface.