Effect of Deposition Time on the Structural and Physical Properties of Magnetron Sputtered Carbon Coatings

Nowadays carbon thin films have been used in many application such as wear, electronic devices, biomaterials, and fuel cells.In this study, the properties of magnetron sputtered amorphous carbon films on 316L stainless steel have been investigated as a function of deposition time. The results show that structure of carbon films transforms from amorphous to nano-crystalline. Byincreasing the deposition time, the graphitic clusters increase and then decrease in the long deposition times because of rearrangement phenomenon. According to SZM model and AFM micrographs, the structure of carbon films is located in columnarzone I. Also with increase of deposition time, the electrical resistance of carbon thin films is raised due to intrinsic compressive stress that likely reduces charge careers mobility. The effects of deposition time on the corrosion resistance of carbon films is negligible.