Search

3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, represents a range of technologies that create 3D objects through a layer-by-layer deposition process using digital image files. 3D printing evolved over the past four decades from a prototyping tool to a manufacturing method in its own right in a number of industries and several additive manufacturing processes have matured into robust production technologies for highly customised and bespoke products when produced in small numbers. However, 3D printing technologies at their current stage of evolution are usually not considered commercially viable for mass production applications.

Junction capacitance measurements performed on tetrahedrally bonded amorphous carbon (ta-C)/crystalline-Si (c-Si) heterostructures are used to deduce the defect density in thin ta-C films. Using the drive level capacitance profiling technique, we determine a homogeneous defect density of 6±1.5×1017 cm−3 in the undoped (p-type) ta-C films and one order of magnitude larger in the nitrogen-doped (n-type) films. Admittance measurements reveal defect states at the ta-C/c-Si interface with a density exceeding 2×1012 cm−2.