Effects of substrate temperature on the properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films were deposited by the filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique with substrate temperature ranging from 25 to 400 °C. A transition from diamond-like properties to graphitic properties was observed for deposition above a threshold temperature value, which is found to increase from 200 to 300 °C for films deposited at different ion energies of 60 and 100 eV, respectively. These changes of properties upon transition include a change in the surface roughness, compressive stress and Raman spectra. The variation of results is consistent with the subplantation model, which emphasizes the role of carbon atoms trapped in the subsurface layers in the evolution of a dense sp³ rich phase at room temperature. At higher temperature, diffusion of carbon atoms to the surface of the evolving film releases internal stress and leads to the formation of a graphitic sp² phase.