New carbon structures in annealed carbon–cadmium film coatings

Abstract

Carbon–cadmium alloy film coating solid solutions coexisting with amorphous carbon are for the first time obtained via ion-plasma sputtering and the codeposition of ultrafine particles of the above elements onto moving substrates. The concentration boundary of the existence of carbon solid solutions in cadmium is found to be a total carbon content in the coating of 63.5 at % (15.66 wt %). Upon the vacuum heat treatment of carbon–cadmium films with a carbon concentration of more than 57.5 at %, almost total evaporation of cadmium occurs with the formation of an amorphous carbon coating. During annealing at 1100°C, the amorphous carbon is found to crystallize into a new phase with a hexagonal primitive lattice and the parameters а = 0.6405 and с = 0.7828 nm. The face-centered cubic (fcc) phase of carbon with the lattice parameter а = 0.4265 nm is recorded in the nanocrystalline formations. The behavior of the initial film coating components during heating in vacuum is assumed, as well.