Superhard conductive carbon nanocrystallite films

Carbon films whose hardness is comparable to diamond's, but whose electrical conductivity is 19 orders of magnitude larger, have been discovered. The films were deposited onto silicon substrates by electron cyclotron resonance plasma sputtering. The bonding structure of the film was mainly sp(2). The film consisted of sp(2) nanocrystallites having parallel and curved graphene sheets vertically oriented to the film surface. The sp(2) nanocrystallites were connected with adjacent crystallites by sp(3) bonding, which gives the film both its high hardness and conductivity. These sp(2) nanocrystallite films will have many applications. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.