Carbon film formation by laser evaporation and ion beam sputtering

Abstract

Carbon films were prepared by three methods: laser evaporation, laser evaporation with ion bombardment and ion beam sputtering. The relation between the preparation methods and the properties of the films was investigated. The properties of carbon films prepared by laser evaporation from powdered graphite and powdered diamond source materials are quite different. The effect of ion bombardment on the film properties was determined by laser evaporation with ion bombardment. Finally, ion beam sputtering was investigated for comparison with laser evaporation. Although all the films have structures which can be primarily described as amorphous with both graphite bonds and diamond bonds, some differences in the electron diffraction patterns of the films prepared by different methods were observed.