Properties of amorphous carbon thin films grown by ion beam sputtering

The electrical performance of amorphous carbon thin films obtained by the ion beam sputtering of a carbon target in argon has been investigated. It has been shown by the Raman spectroscopy method that these films have a graphite-like structure. It has also been found by conductivity and thermopower studies that the hopping mechanism of conductivity with a variable length of hops over localized states near the Fermi level changes to the mechanism of hopping over the nearest neighbors as the temperature rises from 77 to 190 K. Near room temperature, electrotransport is provided by variable-length hops over localized states at the tail of the valence band.