Microstructure dependence of low-temperature elastic properties in amorphous diamond-like carbon films

TL;DR

This study investigates how the microstructure, specifically the sp^3/sp^2 carbon ratio, influences the low-temperature elastic properties of amorphous diamond-like carbon films, revealing a nonmonotonic dependence linked to atomic bonding and internal strain.

Contribution

It demonstrates the microstructure dependence of internal friction and sound speed in amorphous diamond-like carbon films, highlighting the nonmonotonic relationship with sp^3/sp^2 ratio and proposing a competition between bonding and strain effects.

Findings

Internal friction exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on sp^3/sp^2 ratio.

Shear moduli remain unaffected by laser fluence, ranging from 220 to 250 GPa.

Speed of sound shows a similar nonmonotonic temperature dependence as internal friction.

Abstract

We have studied the internal friction and the relative change in the speed of sound of amorphous diamond-like carbon films prepared by pulsed-laser deposition from 0.3 K to room temperature. Like the most of amorphous solids, the internal friction below 10 K exhibits a temperature independent plateau. The values of the internal friction plateau, however, are slightly below the universal ``glassy range'' where the internal frictions of almost all amorphous solids lie. Similar observations have been made in our earlier studies in the thin films of amorphous silicon and amorphous germanium, and the behavior could be well accounted for by the existence of the low-energy atomic tunneling states. In this work, we have varied the concentration of sp^3 versus sp^2 carbon atoms by increasing laser fluence from 1.5 to 30 J/cm^2. Our results show that both the internal friction and the speed of sound have a nonmonotonic dependence on sp^3/sp^2 ratio with the values of the internal friction plateau varying between 6x10^-5 and 1.1x10^-4. We explain our findings as a result of a possible competition between the increase of atomic bonding and the increase of internal strain in the films, both of which are important in determining the tunneling states in amorphous solids. In contrast, no significant dependence of laser fluence is found in shear moduli of the films, which vary between 220 and 250 GPa. The temperature dependence of the relative change in speed of sound, although it shows a similar nonmonotonic dependence on laser fluence as the internal friction, differs from those found in thin films of amorphous silicon and amorphous germanium, which we explain as having the same origin as the anomalous behavior recently observed in the speed of sound of thin nanocrystalline diamond films.