Classification of diamond-like carbons

Abstract

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is an amorphous carbon (a-C) or hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) thin film material with a high fraction of sp 3 carbon bonding. It is generally prepared by a deposition process which involves energeticions. The sp3 bonding is metastable compared to sp2 bonding, unless it is stabilised by C-H bonds. The various types can be classified according to their fraction of sp3 bonding and hydrogen (H). DLC variants alloyed with other elements such as Si, metals or B, N and F are also found. © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media, LLC.