Correlation of acetylene plasma discharge environment and the optical and electronic properties of the hydrogenated amorphous carbon films

Thin films from polymeric and graphitic hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) were deposited over a glass substrate from acetylene (C2H2) plasma by using a conventional plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Radio frequency capacitively coupled plasma (RF CCP) source operating at a frequency of 13.56 MHz was used for generation of the discharge. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) results showed strong optical emissions from diacetylene ion C4H2+ at a wavelength of 506 nm. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) measurements illustrated that the carbon content in the deposited films increased with increasing of power. The Raman and IR results demonstrated that the films deposited at low bias voltages 340 V are so called polymeric a-C:H with high sp3 fraction and high hydrogen content, while the films deposited at high bias voltages 877 V are so called graphitic a-C:H with low sp3 fraction and low hydrogen content. Quantitative information were obtained from fitting the high asymmetrical vibrational modes of Raman and IR spectra by using Fano model expression together with Lorentzian function. The results presented here point out that there is a relation between the intensity of C4H2+ ion emissions and the deposited films properties.