Correlation of sp3 and sp2 fraction of carbon with electrical, optical and nano-mechanical properties of argon-diluted diamond-like carbon films

▶ XPS was used to estimate % sp3 and sp2 fractions of carbon. ▶ Estimated sp3 fraction has been correlated with nano-mechanical properties. ▶ Calculated sp2 fraction has been correlated with electrical and optical properties. ▶ In addition to hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E) several other mechanical parameters such as plastic resistance parameter (H/E), elastic recovery (ER), ratio of residual displacement after load removal with displacement at maximum load (dres/dmax) and plastic deformation energy (Ur) in Ar-DLC films have also been estimated.