Effects of H2 gas addition into process and H ion implantation on the microstructure of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films prepared by bipolar-type plasma based ion implantation

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon films are deposited on Si(1 0 0) and SiO2 glass substrates by a bipolar-type plasma based ion implantation system. The films are prepared using toluene gas at a constant flow rate of 2 sccm. The effects of H2 gas addition during deposition on the microstructure of the films are examined by electrical conductivity measurements, Raman spectroscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) and optical spectroscopy. In addition, H implantation is also carried out using H2 plasma discharge. Thickness of the films is approximately 60 nm for all samples. It is found that electrical conductivity slightly increases with increasing additive H2 flow rate. However, the conductivity drastically decreases after H implantation. Raman analysis reveals that H2 gas addition slightly causes the film graphitization, but the H implantation does it amorphization. The results of ERDA show that the H concentration in the films slightly decreases with increasing H2 gas addition, but increases by H implantation. In spite of H2 gas addition, the optical band gap is not changed and kept approximately 0.7 eV. However, H implantation makes it increase up to approximately 1.0 eV.