Annealing of nonhydrogenated amorphous carbon films prepared by filtered cathodic arc deposition Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The effect of postdeposition annealing to 600C in vacuum on the hardness, modulus, film stress, and sp3 content of nonhydrogenated amorphous carbon was studied. The films were deposited using a filtered cathodic arc source and the film properties were varied by controlling the substrate bias. In films with an initial sp3 content of greater than 80% a significant decrease (from 10.5 GPa to less than 2 GPa) in the level of compressive stress was observed without deterioration of the mechanical properties. In films with an initial sp3 content of 50%, the stress and hardness remained constant. Films with lower sp3 content showed a significant increase in the level of stresses and only a marginal decrease in hardness. The evolution of stresses and hardness with annealing is discussed in light of a proposed microstructure of these amorphous films.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Applied Physics

author list (cited authors)

  • Monteiro, O. R., Ager, J. W., Lee, D. H., Lo, R. Y., Walter, K. C., & Nastasi, M.

citation count

  • 43

complete list of authors

  • Monteiro, OR||Ager, JW||Lee, DH||Lo, R Yu||Walter, KC||Nastasi, M

publication date

  • September 2000