Amorphous hydrogenated carbon films were prepared by hot filament Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition using acetylene as precursor. NiP-coated Al substrate was sputtered with thin layer of ruthenium film prior to carbon deposition for its impact on carbon film growth. Film thickness measured and fitted using X-ray Reflectometry showed carbon film growth is an exothermic reaction with apparent activation energy of 914.6 J mol(-1) in the temperature range studied. Carbon film density and surface roughness changed with substrate temperature, more profound when substrate is pre-heated at 300 degrees C and above, in sync with abrupt I(D)/I(G) increase at temperature higher than 300 degrees C. Substrate temperature higher than 200 degrees C and below 300 degrees C is preferred for hard and dense structure. Higher deposition rate and porosity were observed at higher C(2)H(2) flow rate due to more H incorporation. Film surface morphology studied by Atomic Force Microscope showed Root Mean Square roughness increased at higher C(2)H(2) flow rate due to less energetic ion peening effect. Atomic bonding structure with sp(2) and sp(3) contents in the films deposited at varied temperature and C(2)H(2) flow was analyzed using XPS. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.