Ion beam nanopatterning in graphite: characterization of single extended defects.

The morphology and the electronic structure of a single focused ion-beam-induced artificial extended defect is probed by several methods including micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopies and Monte Carlo and/or semi-analytical simulation within standard codes. The efficiency of the artificial defect for deposited metallic cluster pinning is also investigated. We show a correlation between the ion dose, morphology, electronic structure and cluster trapping efficiency. At room temperature, cluster pinning is efficient when the displacement per atom is one or more. Well-ordered patterned cluster networks are considered for potential applications.