Formation of carbon nanowires by annealing silicon carbide films deposited by magnetron sputtering

The silicon carbide films were grown on a Si(1 1 1) substrate by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Carbon nanowires were obtained after annealing at 1150 °C for 3 h in a H2 atmosphere. Fourier transform infrared transmission spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to analyze the structure, composition and surface morphology of the films. The results confirmed the formation of carbon nanowires.