Observation of two-dimensional ordering in ion-damaged graphite during post-implantation annealing

Post-implantation annealing of ion-damaged, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite has been studied by Raman spectroscopy, ion-channeling techniques, and transmission electron microscopy. Complementary information obtained by these methods provides confirmation for the first step of graphitization of ion-damaged graphite at annealing temperatures of ∼2300°C. This is manifested by the formation of carbon planes with two-dimensional ordering but no correlation in the third ($c$-axis) dimension.