Processing of C60 thin films by Matrix-Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE)

Thin films of fullerenes (C60) were deposited onto silicon using matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE). The deposition was carried out from a frozen homogeneous dilute solution of C60 in anisole (0.67 wt%), and over a broad range of laser fluences, from 0.15 J/cm2 up to 3.9 J/cm2. MAPLE has been applied for deposition of fullerenes for the first time and we have studied the growth of thin films of solid C60. The fragmentation of C60 fullerene molecules induced by ns ablation in vacuum of a frozen anisole target with C60 was investigated by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI). Our findings show that intact fullerene films can be produced with laser fluences ranging from 0.15 J/cm2 up to 1.5 J/cm2.