Implementations of the present disclosure generally relate to the fabrication of integrated circuits. More particularly, the implementations described herein provide techniques for deposition of high-density films for patterning applications. In one implementation, a method of processing a substrate is provided. The method includes flowing a hydrocarbon-containing gas mixture into a processing volume of a process chamber having a substrate positioned on an electrostatic chuck. The substrate is maintained at a pressure between about 0.5 mTorr and about 10 Torr. The method further includes generating a plasma at the substrate level by applying a first RF bias to the electrostatic chuck to deposit a diamond-like carbon film on the substrate. The diamond-like carbon film has a density greater than 1.8 g/cc and a stress less than −500 MPa.