Multilayers of amorphous carbon prepared by cathodic arc deposition

Filtered cathodic are deposition is an effective technique for preparing amorphous hard carbon films of high quality. Pulsed biasing of the substrate leads to a variation of the ion energy. Therefore the film properties, which are influenced by the ion energy, can be changed over a wide range. Using an alternating high- and low-bias voltage, we have formed multilayers of hard and soft amorphous carbon films. The structure and mechanical properties of the multilayers were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and nanoindentation. They are discussed in relation to Monte Carlo computer simulations of the deposition process. It was found that the multilayer structure formation can be well predicted by the Monte Carlo computer code. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.