An optical microscopy study of stress relief patterns in diamond-like
carbon films is presented, Interesting stress relief patterns are obse
rved which include the well-known sinusoidal type, branching pattern a
nd string-of-beads pattern, The last one is shown to relieve stresses
under marginal conditions. Two new stress relief patterns are noted in
the present study. One of them is of sinusoidal shape with two extra
branches at every peak position. The distribution of different stress
relief forms from the outer edge of the films towards the interior is
markedly dependent on the film thickness. Our new patterns support the
approach in which the stress relief forms have been analysed earlier
using the theory of plate buckling.