SP(3) CONTENT OF MASS-SELECTED ION-BEAM-DEPOSITED CARBON-FILMS DETERMINED BY INELASTIC AND ELASTIC ELECTRON-SCATTERING

Amorphous carbon films grown by low-energy mass-selected ion-beam depo sition have been characterized by inelastic and elastic electron scatt ering. Films were grown using deposition energies from 10 up to 2000 e V. Most samples were deposited at room temperature with a few deposite d at elevated substrate temperatures. Transmission electron-energy-los s spectra were recorded for all films both in the low-energy-loss regi on, where the bulk plasmon excitation is the primary feature of intere st, and in the vicinity of the carbon K edge where the data were used to estimate the fraction of sp(3) bonded atoms. Elastic-electron-scatt ering data were also recorded, and bond lengths and angles were extrac ted from these data, The carbon It-edge spectra indicate that the high est sp(3) content (about 80%) occurs for films grown with ion beam ene rgies between about 50 and 600 eV and, furthermore, that the sp(3) con tent remains greater than 50% for deposition energies up to 2000 eV. B ond lengths and angles extracted from elastic-electron-scattering data support the conclusions drawn from the energy-loss data.