Abstract
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were deposited using two different types of high current arc evaporation. The first process used a magnetic particle filter to remove droplets from the plasma. For the second process, the samples were put into a metallic cage which was placed directly above the plasma source. For both processes, we varied the substrate temperature from 21 to 350 °C in order to investigate the temperature effect. The samples were characterized using SEM, AFM, XPS, Raman Spectroscopy, Ellipsometry, Photometry, and Nano Indentation in order to compare both methods of deposition and provide a careful characterization of such DLC films. We found that the sp3 content and the hardness can be precisely adjusted by changing the substrate temperature. Furthermore, in the case of unfiltered deposition, the optical constants can be shifted in the direction of higher absorbance in order to produce black and hard carbon coatings.
Highlights
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have attracted much attention due to their promising properties [1]
We found that the properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) deposited using high current arc evaporation
We found that the properties of ta-C deposited using high current arc evaporation applies for both examined processes: the magnetic macro particle filtering as well as the metallic cage
Summary
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have attracted much attention due to their promising properties [1]. The HCA technique uses plasma pulses up to 3000 A and can produce carbon coatings with very high hardness and density because of the higher content of sp3 -hybridized carbon bonding, compared to other methods described above. The Φ-HCA technique was developed to produce, for example, ultra-hard hydrogen-free tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) for magnetic storage disks and read-write-heads in order to avoid damage and corrosion [18]. Due to their high hardness, such coatings can probably be used as wear-protective coatings for optical parts, for example, lamellas in iris diaphragms. We compared hardness, optical constants, and sp content of the modified coating with that of conventional ta-C by Φ-HCA
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