Abstract
Abstract Amorphous hydrogenated carbon films have been deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition at different process pressures and substrate temperatures, resulting in film properties ranging from polymer-like to diamond-like. The deposition parameter combinations were chosen by experimental design to enable the determination of both deposition pressure and deposition temperature effects on the annealing behaviour. The deposited films have then been annealed in vacuum at successively higher temperatures. Changes in optical band gap, internal stress, film thickness and infrared (IR) absorption spectra have been recorded to assess the influence of deposition parameters on the thermal stability of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and to identify temperature-induced modifications in the bonding structure. The results show a large variation in thermal stability between the different DLC films; samples deposited at low pressure display the greatest stability. The internal stress of the films starts decreasing at very low annealing temperature (
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