Enhanced and tunable ferromagnetism in periodic-arrays of CVD-synthesized carbon films

ABSTRACT In this work, periodic-arrays of magnetic carbon films were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using adamantane as a precursor and patterned via electron beam lithography (EBL), exhibiting tunable magnetic properties. By controlling the array size, we observe a 12-fold enhancement in saturation magnetization as it increases from 4.4 emu cm⁻³ to 55.8 emu cm⁻³ compared with the baseline (unpatterned) film. Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurements confirm the increase in saturation magnetization of the patterned films. Furthermore, the saturation magnetization of the CVD-grown carbon films can be tuned by varying the ambient humidity, and its behavior can be predicted using Raman spectroscopy. These findings highlight the potential of periodic-array magnetic carbon films. for the development of tunable microscale magnetic devices for data storage, spintronics, and sensing.