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The effect of thermal annealing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of magnetron sputtered hydrogenated amorphous carbon films

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films were deposited by magnetron sputtering of a carbon target in a methane/argon atmosphere. A postdeposition annealing at 300 °C was performed and the microstructure, bonding structure and mechanical properties of the as‐deposited and annealed films were analyzed and compared directly by high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, micro‐Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and nanoindentation. The results showed that the carbon films are quite stable upon annealing, since there are only minor changes in microstructure and chemical bonding in the amorphous matrix. The hardness of the films remained unaffected, but the elastic properties were somewhat deteriorated. In comparison to the outcomes of our previous work on the growth of fullerene‐like hydrogenated carbon films, we can state that the formation of fullerene‐like carbon structures requires different sputtering process conditions, such as a higher ion energy and/or different sputtering target. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.