ISSN:
1662-0356
Source:
Scientific.Net: Materials Science & Technology / Trans Tech Publications Archiv 1984-2008
Topics:
Natural Sciences in General
,
Technology
Notes:
In the present work, a-C:H films have been grown from argon/methane gas mixtures byElectron Cyclotron Resonance Chemical Vapour Deposition (ECRCVD). The effect of theapplication of a dc bias voltage to the silicon substrate material on the structural,morphological and mechanical properties of the films has been explored by multiple analysistechniques such as IR and micro-Raman spectroscopy, AFM, nano-indentation and pin-ondiskwear testing. In general, within the range of –300 V to +100 V applied substrate bias wehave observed a strong correlation between all measured properties of the grown a-C:H filmsand the ion energy. Though it is known that the ion energy is one of the crucial parameters inplasma grown films, this work clearly shows that the properties of the a-C:H layers can differgreatly and indicates a threshold energy for the production of hard, low-friction coatings inthe order of 80-90 eV. Moreover, this threshold energy is also combined with a sharptransition from rough, cauliflower-like film surfaces towards ultrasmooth, featurelesstopographies. This correlation suggests that at energies higher than 80 eV the ionbombardment affects simultaneously the surface morphology and the internal bondingstructure
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://www.tib-hannover.de/fulltexts/2011/0528/01/42/transtech_doi~10.4028%252Fwww.scientific.net%252FAST.48.17.pdf
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