Thermal stability of ultrathin amorphous carbon films synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and filtered cathodic vacuum arc

Ultrathin hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and hydrogen-free amorphous carbon (a-C) films of similar thickness deposited by filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) were subjected to rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) were used to study the structural stability of the films. While RTA increased the thickness of the intermixing layer and decreased the sp3 content of the a-C:H films, it did not affect the thickness or the sp3 content of the a-C films. The superior structural stability of the FCVA a-C films compared with PECVD a-C:H films, demonstrated by the TEM and EELS results of this study, illustrates the high potential of these films as protective overcoats in applications where rapid heating is critical to the device functionality and performance, such as heat-assisted magnetic recording.