Growth of Highly Transparent Amorphous Carbon Films Using Beam Plasma Source

A single beam plasma source was used to deposit hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) coatings at room temperature. Using methane source gas, a-C:H coatings were deposited at different radio frequency (RF) power to fabricate transparent and durable coatings. The film deposition rate was almost linearly proportional to the ion source power. Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films of similar to 100 nm thickness appeared to be highly transparent from UV to the infrared range with a transmittance of similar to 90% and optical bandgap of similar to 3.7 eV. The coatings also possess desirable mechanical properties with Young's modulus of similar to 78 GPa and density of similar to 1.9 g/cm(3). The combined material properties of high transmittance and high durability make the ion-source-deposited a-C:H coatings attractive for many applications.