World experts in amorphous carbon have been drawn together to produce this comprehensive commentary on the current state and future prospects of amorphous carbon, a highly functional material. Amorphous carbon has a wide range of properties that are primarily controlled by the different bond hybridisations possible in such materials. This allows for the growth of an extensive range of thin films that can be tailored for specific applications. Films can range from those with high transparency and which are hard and diamond-like, through to those which are opaque, soft and graphitic-like. Application areas including field emission cathodes, MEMs, electronic devices, medical and optical coatings are now close to market.

This book presents the status quo of the structure, preparation, properties and applications of tetrahedrally bonded amorphous carbon (ta-C) films and compares them with related film systems. Tetrahedrally bonded amorphous carbon films (ta-C) combine some of the outstanding properties of diamond with the versatility of amorphous materials. The book compares experimental results with the predictions of theoretical analyses, condensing them to practicable rules. It is strictly application oriented, emphasizing the exceptional potential of ta-C for tribological coatings of tools and components.

Diamond-like carbon is amorphous carbon with a high degree of sp3 bonding, and is widely used for hard coatings and field emission cathodes. This book contains reviews by leading workers in the field, covering the topics of deposition methods, deposition mechanisms, atomic structure, surface atomic structure, electronic structure calculations, Raman, doping, luminescence, electron field emission, mechanical properties and tribology.