Ion Beam Induced Effects in RF Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition Deposited Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon Thin Films

Abstract

Boron ions of 65 keV are bombarded into hydrogenated a-carbon films deposited by radio frequency plasma chemical vapor deposition technique. Ion beam current dependence studies on the physical properties of a-C films for a fixed boron dose of 1×1016 ions/cm2 reveal the reduction in resistivity, whereas the optical gap is found to be unaffected. The structural phase transition accompanied by the reduction in the optical gap and resistivity takes place when the ion dose is increased. These changes are due to the production of defect levels and localized heating effects during the ion implantation process.