TITLE:
Synthesis and Characterization of Air-Stable Elemental Fe Thin Films by Chemical Vapor Deposition of Fe3(CO)12
AUTHORS:
On Mero, Nava Shpaisman, Judith Grinblat, Shlomo Margel
KEYWORDS:
Magnetic Conductive Thin Coatings; Thin Fe Films; Nanogranular Magnetic Thin Films; Magnetic Coatings; Fe3(CO)12; CNTs
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology,
Vol.3 No.3,
July
12,
2013
ABSTRACT: New magnetic air-stable nanogranular
Fe thin films of 10 ± 1.2 nm thickness were prepared onto
silicon wafers at 150℃ under inert atmosphere by controlled Chemical Vapor
Deposition (CVD) of triiron dodecacarbonyl (Fe3(CO)12).
These thin films, composed of sintered elemental Fe nanoparticles of 4.1 ± 0.7 nm diameter, are protected from
air oxidation by a very
thin carbon layer. The saturation magnetization of these thin Fe coatings was
found to be close to that of bulk iron. The electrical resistivity behavior
of the ferromagnetic thin films is similar to that of a semiconductor. In the
present manuscript, these Fe thin coatings on Si wafers have been used as a
catalyst for synthesizing crystalline carbon nanotubes (CNTs), by CVD using
ethylene as a carbon precursor.