Hard hydrogenated carbon films with low stress

Abstract

Analysis of hard a-C:H films with low stress prepared by methane plasma decomposition is reported. Films with hardness as high as 14 GPa and stress as low as 0.5 GPa were obtained. These films have a high Raman Id/Ig ratio (∼1.0), and small Tauc’s band gap (∼0.4 eV). This letter also supplies strong evidence that the subimplantation deposition model, used to explain the formation of ta-C and ta-C:H films, is also valid for a-C:H films deposited by methane plasma decomposition. It is proposed that the rigidity of the films is basically provided by a matrix of dispersed cross-linked sp2 sites, in addition to the contribution of the sp3 sites.