Stress reduction and bond stability during thermal annealing of tetrahedral amorphous carbon

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Abstract
A comprehensive study of the stress release and structural changes caused by postdeposition thermal annealing of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) on Si has been carried out. Complete stress relief occurs at 600–700 °C and is accompanied by minimal structural modifications, as indicated by electron energy loss spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and optical gap measurements. Further annealing in vacuum converts sp 3 sites to sp 2 with a drastic change occurring after 1100 °C. The field emitting behavior is substantially retained up to the complete stress relief, confirming that ta-C is a robust emitting material.