Carbon nanocomposite thin films prepared by filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique

Nanocomposite amorphous carbon (a-C:Me) films including a-C:Ni, a-C:Co, a-C:Ti, a-C:W, a-C:Fe, a-C:Al, and a-C:Si films were deposited using metal-carbon composite target by filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technique. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the morphology and structure of the films. Nanoindenter and surface profilometer were used to determine the hardness, Young's modulus, and internal stress. Contact angle and field emission experiments were used to study the surface energy and field emission properties of the films respectively. The influence of the type of elements and its composition in the target on the structural, mechanical, surface energy, and field emission properties were studied. The incorporation of elements into the films results in the decrease of sp3 C fraction, internal stress in the deposited films, but the hardness and Young's modulus remains at high level. The effect of non-carbide forming elements in the films on the mechanical properties is more pronounced than that of carbide forming elements. The surface energy of the films increases with incorporating Ni atoms, but decreases after incorporating Fe and Al atoms into the films. After heat treatment, the incorporation of metal into ta-C films can greatly improve the field emission performance.