Abstract: High hardness and low electrical resistivity graphite-like carbon (GLC) coatings were prepared by ion beam assisted magnetron sputtering deposition (IBMSD). TEM, XRD, XPS, FTIR, four probe electric
receptivity measurement method (FPM), RBS, hardness and AFM were used to sense the structures and evaluate the properties of the carbon coatings. The effects of assisted gaseous and bombarding
energies on structures and properties of the coatings were investigated. Some significant results were obtained as follows. The bond structure of GLC is mainly sp² , which can be proved by XPS, FTIR
and FPM. XRD and TEM show that its microstructure is amorphous. As CH₄ introduced, additional carbon input results in the increase of deposition rate. The surface roughness and hardness
are dependent on bombarding energies.

Key words: ion beam assisted deposition(IBAD), magnetron sputtering, amorphous carbon coating, structure