Various Ni-doped carbon (C：Ni) thin films were fabricated using different Ni target power densities by unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBM). The effects of target power density on the structural, physical, surface, and electrical properties of C：Ni films were investigated. The UBM C：Ni thin films exhibited uniformly smooth surfaces. The rms surface roughness and friction coefficient values of the C：Ni films decreased with the increase in target power density. The physical properties of the films such as hardness and elastic moduli increased while their electrical properties such as resistivity decreased with the increase in the target power density. These results show that an increase of the power density leads to an increase in the proportion of Ni and nanocrystallization of the amorphous carbon film; this contributes to the changes observed in the physical and electrical characteristics.
