Structure and mechanical properties of a-C:H films deposited on a 3D target: comparative study on target scale and aspect ratio

Abstract

Recently, the bipolar-type plasma-based ion implantation and deposition (bipolar PBII&D) method has attracted large attention owing to its non-line-of-sight coating technique. In particular, bipolar PBII&D is beneficial in coating a hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) film on a 3D target. Therefore, in this study, a-C:H films were prepared onto a complex-shaped 3D target such as macrotrench (pitch: 20 mm, aspect ratio: 1.0), microchannel (width: 100 µm, aspect ratio: 20), microtrench (pitch: 4 µm, aspect ratio: 2.0), or nanotrench (pitch: 300 nm, aspect ratio: 2.0) using bipolar PBII&D, and the film properties were evaluated. With regard to the mechanical properties, the film thickness and hardness were evaluated using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and nanoindentation measurements, respectively. With regard to the structural properties, the microstructure of the films was evaluated by Raman spectroscopy. Subsequently, the structural and mechanical properties were compared with each other to reveal the target scale- and aspect ratio-dependence on the film properties. Furthermore, the coating mechanism was elucidated by analyzing the plasma behavior around the target using a plasma simulation method. The particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) and the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) methods were simultaneously used as the plasma simulation method. Each of these is a calculation method that analyzes the behavior of ions and radicals, respectively. As a result, the a-C:H films were successfully coated onto any scale and any shape of the target. In contrast, the results of the hardness and those from the Raman spectroscopy on the sidewall surface indicated non-uniformity of the film structure and depended on the scale and aspect ratio of a target, i.e. the hardness and Raman data show different values depending on the target scale and aspect ratio. The result of the plasma simulation suggested that such non-uniform mechanical or structural properties were strongly related to the non-uniform behavior of the plasma particle incident to the sidewall depending on the scale and aspect ratio of the target. Moreover, with regard to the a-C:H films on a nanotrench, their film properties were predicted by presenting comparative discussions of the experimental measurement and plasma simulation analysis for the macrotrench, microchannel, and microtrench.