The synthesis of polymer-like amorphous carbon (a-C:H) thin-films by microwave excited collisional hydrocarbon plasma process is reported. Stable and highly aromatic a-C:H were obtained containing significant inclusions of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV). PPV confers universal optoelectronic properties to the synthesised material. That is a-C:H with tailor-made refractive index are capable of becoming absorption-free in visible (red) - near infrared wavelength range. Production of large aromatic hydrocarbon including phenyl clusters and/or particles is attributed to enhanced coagulation of elemental plasma species under collisional plasma conditions. Detailed structural and morphological changes that occur in a-C:H during the plasma synthesis are also described.
@article{arxiv.1004.4868,
title = {Near infra-red optical materials from polymeric amorphous carbon synthesised by collisional plasma process},
author = {M. Rybachuk* and A. Hertwig and M. Weise and M. Sahre and M. Männ and U. Beck and J. M. Bell},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1004.4868},
year = {2015}
}