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US 5,494,558 AGranted
Production of fullerenes by sputtering
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsRointan F. Bunshah, Shyankay Jou, Shiva Prakash, Hans J. Doerr
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Abstract
A process and system for producing fullerenes by sputtering. A carbon target is sputtered to form a vapor of sputtered carbon atoms. The sputtered carbon atoms are quenched in an atmosphere of inert gas and deposited onto a collection substrate. The resulting carbon soot is extracted to recover fullerenes. The process produces carbon soot which is rich in C.sub.70 and higher fullerenes.
Claims14
A process for producing higher fullerenes comprising the steps of:
- bombarding a carbon target with a sufficient amount of ions to sputter carbon atoms from said target to form a vapor of sputtered carbon atoms;
- maintaining an atmosphere of inert gas into which said carbon atoms are sputtered to form said vapor of sputtered carbon atoms, said vapor of sputtered atoms being maintained at a pressure of between about 0.5 to 10 Torr;
- depositing said sputtered carbon atoms onto a substrate to form a carbon soot which contains higher fullerenes and C.sub.60 wherein the ratio of said higher fullerenes to C.sub.60 is high;
- and
- separating said higher fullerenes from said carbon soot.
2 more elements
A system for producing higher fullerenes by sputter-deposition, said system comprising:
- a sputtering vessel which includes walls defining a sputter-deposition zone;
- a carbon target located within said sputter-deposition zone;
- means for bombarding said carbon target with a sufficient amount of ions to sputter carbon atoms from said target to form a vapor of sputtered carbon atoms within said sputter-deposition zone;
- means for maintaining an atmosphere of inert gas in said sputter-deposition zone at a pressure of between about 0.5 Torr and 10 Torr wherein said carbon atoms are sputtered into said zone to form said vapor of sputtered carbon atoms;
- at least one substrate located within said sputter-deposition zone onto which said sputtered carbon atoms are deposited to form carbon soot which contains fullerenes wherein the ratio of higher fullerenes to C.sub.60 is high;
- and
- means for separating said higher fullerenes from said carbon soot.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.