Deposition and Characterization of Diamond-Like Carbon Thin Films by Electro-Deposition Technique Using Organic Liquid

Abstract

Diamond-like carbon films were synthesized by electro-deposition technique from an organic liquid (a solution of alpha- and beta-pinenes in n-hexane) on silicon substrate at room temperature and at room pressure. The x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, Raman spectra, photoluminescence (PL), and x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra analysis were used to study the properties of the diamond-like carbon (as-deposited and annealed) films. The XRD measurement indicated that the film contains some diamond-crystalline phases whereas Raman spectra did not show any prominent diamond-like peak. PL intensity as higher for the as-deposited film and decreased with high-temperature vacuum annealing. FTIR spectra showed the presence of sp3 hybridization C–H bonds and their intensity decreases at higher annealing temperature. C and O K-edge XANES spectra showed that π* (sp2) intensity significantly decreases when the annealing temperature is 600 °C.