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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Preparation of Carbon Nanosheets at Room Temperature
Published on: March 8, 2016
Abrupt stress induced transformation in amorphous carbon films with a highly conductive transition phase
D W M Lau1, D G McCulloch, M B Taylor
1Applied Physics, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V Melbourne 3001, Australia.
Abstract:
We demonstrate that when, and only when, the biaxial stress is increased above a critical value of 6+/-1 GPa during the growth of a carbon film at room temperature, tetrahedral amorphous carbon is formed. This confirms that the stress present during the formation of an amorphous carbon film determines its sp;{3} bonding fraction. In the vicinity of the critical stress, a highly oriented graphitelike material is formed which exhibits low electrical resistance and provides Ohmic contacts to silicon. Atomistic simulations reveal that the structural transitions are thermodynamically driven and not the result of dynamical effects.
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