Writing submicrometric metallic patterns by ultraviolet synchrotron irradiation of nanostructured carbon and TiOx-carbon films

Nanostructured carbon and carbon-TiOx films produced by supersonic cluster beam deposition have been characterized by spatially resolved (0.5 mum lateral resolution) photoemission spectroscopy with synchrotron light. We have found that pure and TiOx-containing nanostructured carbon is modified under high flux UV exposure showing the onset of a metallic character near the Fermi level. We have studied the spectroscopic features, the spatial confinement, and the kinetics of this metallization process of the irradiated regions. This effect allows one to write metallic patterns in the TiOx-containing films with a submicrometric resolution and with a fast kinetic. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.