Metal-Containing Diamond-Like Carbon Coating as a Smart Sensor

Abstract

A new type of smart sensor based on metal-containing diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings is presented. DLC coatings are widely used as protective coatings to improve the surface properties of objective materials; for example, to increase hardness and chemical stability. With the addition of metal clusters into DLC coatings, electrical conduction appears to depend on the microstructure. Such coatings can be used in fabricating resistive sensors. In this paper, we present tungsten-containing DLC (W-DLC) as a possible strain sensor. The strain sensitivity is greatly affected by the deposition condition. We also fabricate a double-layered DLC/W-DLC coating. The double-layered structure is expected to be used as a smart coating having functionality as a sensor with a protective DLC overcoat.