Depositing of diamond-like films by plasma jets

Abstract

At the present time there are a number of methods for obtaining diamond-like carbon films. One of the most efficient techniques is the CVD method used for depositing films from the gaseous phase in a vacuum with the pressure maintained at low levels. To achieve high rates of film growth, when using this method, it is necessary to generate a supersonic Ar plasma jet and inject into it various mixtures of gases with carbon-containing reactants (CH/sub 4/, C/sub 2/H/sub 2/, etc.). The deposition of films was carried out by means of the VPP-2 vacuum plasma setup, developed by Brest Technical University in cooperation with Smorgon Optical Machine-Tool factory. The properties of the obtained films were studied using such conventional analytical methods as: Optical Emission Spectroscopy, Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering-CARS, Auger and Scanning Electron Microscopy and Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy. The results of the investigation show that the size of sp/sup 3/ and sp/sup 2/ hybridized crystalline clusters is dependent on the temperature and the bias voltage of the substrate. The deposited films are of the i-C and a-C types. The film deposition rate is 50 to 120 /spl mu/m/h, depending on the chemical composition of the plasma jet, its power and the substrate temperature.