Structural and mechanical properties of amorphous carbon films deposited by the dual plasma technique

Direct current metal filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) and acetylene gas (C₂H₂) were wielded to synthesize Ti-containing amorphous carbon films on Si (100). The influence of substrate bias voltage and acetylene gas on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the films were investigated. The results show that the phase of TiC in the (111) preferential crystallographic orientation exists in the film, and the main existing pattern of carbon is sp². With increasing the acetylene flow rate, the contents of Ti and TiC phase of the film gradually reduce; however, the thickness of the film increases. When the substrate bias voltage reaches −600 V, the internal stress of the film reaches 1.6 GPa. The micro-hardness and elastic modulus of the film can reach 33.9 and 237.6 GPa, respectively, and the friction coefficient of the film is 0.25.