Molecular dynamics Simulations of the growth of thin a-C:H films under additional ion bombardment:: Influence of the growth species and the Ar+ ion kinetic energy

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used to investigate the growth of thin, amorphous, hydrogenated carbon films for conditions corresponding to an argon/acetylene expanding thermal plasma with additional ion bombardment. It is shown that the hydrocarbon growth species determines the final structure of the film, in particular how the Ar+ ions contribute to the growth process. Attention is focused on how the Ar+ ion energy and flux influence the morphology of the films, the hydrogen content, the density, and the carbon coordination in the films due to a knock-on penetration mechanism.