Effects of oxygen and substrate temperature on properties of amorphous carbon films fabricated by plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition method

Amorphous carbon (a-C) thin films were deposited on S(111) substrates by an oxygen RF plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method at an oxygen pressure of 53 mPa, as well as in vacuum and oxygen gas ambient at 53 mPa for comparison, at substrate temperatures (T-sub) between room temperature and 480degreesC. An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed that the highest sp(3) content of the film was 58% in oxygen plasma PLD at T-sub = 410degreesC. Under this condition, the film surface morphology was shown to be quite smooth with a roughness of about 5 mm, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Effects of the oxygen, plasma and the substrate temperature on the film properties were examined.