Deposition of amorphous carbon–silver composites

Composites of amorphous carbon films and silver were deposited by co-sputtering, where the target (10 cm diameter) was of pure graphite with small inclusion of pure silver (less than 1 cm2). The films were deposited under different powers, from 40 to 250 W, and different target-substrate distances. The substrate was earthed and rotated in order to obtain a uniform distribution of the silver content. The addition of the Ag piece into the target increased the deposition rate of the carbon films, which could be related to the higher sputter yield of the silver, but there seems to be also a contribution from a larger emission of secondary electrons from the Ag that enhances the plasma and therefore the sputtering process becomes more efficient.Scanning electron micrographs acquired using backscattered electrons showed that the silver was segregated from the carbon matrix, forming nanoparticles or larger clusters as the power was increased. The X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the silver was crystalline and the carbon matrix remained amorphous, although for certain conditions a peak attributed to fullerene-like structures was obtained. Finally, we used Raman spectroscopy to understand the bonding characteristics of the carbon–silver composites, finding that there are variations in the D/G ratio, which can be correlated to the observed structure and X-ray diffraction results.