One of the widely used materials for medical implants is titanium, bec
ause it readily forms a passivation layer of titanium dioxide which is
known to be of excellent biocompatibility. However, under mechanical
loads this passivation layer may locally be removed resulting in a bla
ck residue of TiO2 particles around the implant. Hard diamond-like car
bon (DLC) coatings on the other hand are known to be biocompatible and
to have excellent mechanical and chemical stability. A Combination of
the two materials in the form of Ti-O containing DLC coatings is expe
cted to show further improvements of the bio-mechanical properties of
medical implants. In this paper we present X-ray photoelectron spectro
scopy investigations of Ti-O containing amorphous hydrogenated carbon
films. These films are produced by r.f.-plasma chemical vapor depositi
on using mixtures of acetylene and titanium(IV) ethoxide as feed gases
. The chemical states of the different elements in as deposited Ti-O D
LC films are analyzed.