Study of hydrogen in diamond-like carbon films using nuclear reaction analysis

The hydrogen contents and mobilities, measured by nuclear reaction induced by fluorine ion bombardment, have been investigated for a series of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films. It is shown that hydrogen in DLC films decreases inversely with increasing doses of fluorine bombardment. This is explained by considering that some covalent C-H structure is destroyed, and that loosely bound and free hydrogen released from the films during the ions bombardment. The correction of stopping power for incident fluorine in DLC films, due to the large amount of hydrogen contained in the films, is also discussed. DLC films which had previously been implanted with 140 keV Ar-ions were also examined by the F-ion reaction technique and information is given on their hydrogen content and ir characteristics.