Mechanical properties of hard a-C:H films

Abstract Amorphous hydrogenated carbon films have been prepared in an inductively coupled rf reactor. Due to the inductive coupling, the ion energy and the ion current density can be varied independently. At low pressures (8 × 10 −4 mbar ) rather high deposition rates (30 A s −1 ) have been obtained. Films were prepared in a pressure range from 1.2 × 10 −3 mbar to 5.2 × 10 −4 mbar . Mechanical properties of the a-C:H films such as internal stress, the Knoop hardness and the adhesion of different substrates have been measured. In addition, physical characterization was performed by SIMS, AES, ir and vis spectrometry. Also, film properties prepared at different H 2 /C 2 H 2 ratios were examined.