Amorphous carbon coatings prepared by high rate rf plasma deposition from fluorinated benzenes

Amorphous carbon films were prepared by radio frequency plasma deposition from benzene and fluorinated benzenes: C6H6−mFm with m=0–6. The films have been characterized spectroscopically. The infrared spectrum shows that besides hydrogen, fluorine is incorporated in the films. With increasing m the concentration of fluorine in the film increases while the amount of chemically bonded hydrogen decreases and vanishes for m>3. The properties of these hydrogenated fluorinated amorphous carbon films (a-C:H,F) are qualitatively similar to those of hard carbon coatings (a-C:H) prepared from benzene. However, the deposition rate has been found to rise significantly (up to 900 nm min−1) with increasing fluorine content, m, in the substituted benzene. Optical data and protective properties of the films are reported.