Fabrication of Diamond-Like-Carbon thin films by Pulsed Plasma Deposition technique

Abstract

We have tried to deposit Diamond-Like-Carbon (DLC) films by means of Pulsed Plasma Deposition (PPD) technique. In this technique, pulsed electron and plasma beams irradiate a graphite disk target through a discharge tube and ablated particles from the target are deposited on the substrate as a thin film. We have found that the ablation power can be controlled by pinching the electron beam. The optical emission of C2-Swan-Band of C2 (dimer of C), C+ and C2+ ions were found in the plume. Deposition rate of the DLC film showed a linear relationship with the discharge voltage. Hardness of deposited DLC films was measured to be more than 30 GPa, and the content of sp3 bond was approximately 50%. AFM and FE-SEM observations showed that the apparent grain size of deposited DLC films was less than 300nm and that the grains were consisted of finer grains (~50nm). The surface roughness (Ra) of the deposited DLC film was about 0.02 µm. We conclude from the above results that the PPD can be one of the superior techniques for producing DLC films with high hardness.