The subimplantation model for hydrogenated amorphous carbon films deposited in electron cyclotron resonance plasma

The subimplantation model was used to explain the formation of a-C:H films deposited from a dual ECR-RF discharge of methane-argon (5%) mixture at low pressure. Combined optical transmission measurements, elastic recoil detec tion analysis, Raman spectra and residual stress measurements are used to f ully characterise the films as deposited. The residual stress vs. bias plot shows a behavior similar to those already obtained for tetrahedral amorpho us carbon (ta-C) and tetrahedral hydrogenated amorphous carbon (ta-C:H) fil ms. In this study, the ions sticking the film surface are not monoenergetic , the stress data matches the theoretical model proposed by Davis. The opti mum energy obtained is similar to that obtained for tetrahedral films. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.