Growth manner and mechanical characteristics of amorphous carbon nanopillars grown by electron-beam-induced chemical vapor deposition

We investigated the growth manner and mechanical characteristics of amorphous carbon (a-C) nanopillars formed by electron-beam-induced chemical vapor deposition (EB-CVD). The pillars' inclinations were well explained if we assumed the vertical growth rate to be almost constant within a specified distance from the substrate. The pillars' Young's modulus evaluated by deflection measurement was approximately 29 GPa, which was almost equivalent to that of bismuth, but much smaller than that observed in focused ion-beam-induced chemical vapor deposition (FIB-CVD) pillars.