Regular nano-cones on carbon-silicon composite films: SPM tip-induced growth and characterization

In this work, we report on a new effect of nanostructuring, namely the formation of nano-cones under the action of local electric field in carbon-silicon composite films. The original films of 20-100 nm thick were deposited on Si substrates by a CVD method, where silicon-organic liquid siloxane was used as a plasma-forming substance of the open plasmatron. Experiments on the film nanostructuring were carried out in the air-operated scanning probe microscopy (SPM) setup using cantilevers coated with Pt layers as the probes for SPM actions in contact mode, and also for testing the samples before and after the actions. To induce the electric field underneath the probe, a series (N=1-1000) of rectangular voltage pulses with the magnitude U up to 10 V and duration T=1-1000 ms were applied between the sample and the grounded probe at regular points of the scanned area.