Raman Spectroscopy of Amorphous Carbon Prepared by Pulsed Arc Discharge in Various Gas Mixtures

Abstract

To meet various application requirements, it is important to enable an improvement of a-C structure and properties, such as hardness, adhesion, and wear resistance. In this study, we used the Raman spectroscopy to investigate the a-C thin films structure dependence on the different deposition parameters. The effect of nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen gas flow rate was analyzed to determine the influence on the film properties. The change in the gas type, combination, and flow had a significant influence on the D and G bands of the a-C Raman spectra. The addition of N2 into the chamber promoted the sp2 creation, while with adding hydrogen the layer contained more sp3 bonds. The depositions of a-C thin films were carried out in pulsed arc discharge vacuum installation. Micro-Raman measurements of the deposited materials were performed using an ISA Dilor-Jobin Yvon-Spex Labram confocal system with 632.8 nm radiation from a He-Ne laser using a back-scattering geometry.