Microhardness and Young’s modulus of diamond and diamondlike carbon films

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Abstract
The microhardness, H, and Young’s modulus, E, of a polycrystalline diamond film and several amorphous diamondlike carbon (DLC) films were determined from force‐displacement curves obtained using an ultralow‐load microhardness instrument (UMIS‐2000). Measurements were made at a constant loading rate of 3 mN/s, to a maximum applied force of 67 and 100 mN with contact force of 0.06 and 1.07 mN, respectively. The diamond film had a surface morphology typical of microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition films (crystallite size 0.5–3 μm), and the force‐displacement curves showed nearly complete elastic behavior. The average values of hardness (80–100 GPa) and modulus (500–533 GPa) are comparable to those of natural (001) diamond reference standards (H=56–102 GPa, E=1050 GPa). The DLC films were prepared by low‐energy ion‐assisted unbalanced magnetron sputtering. By varying the bombarding ion energy, five films were prepared having different sp3/sp2 bonding ratios (3–6), optical gaps (1.2–1.6 eV), and hydrogen concentrations (4–20 at %). The force‐displacement measurements are characterized by substantial elastic recovery, and individual films show a very narrow range of hardness and modulus values. It is found that high hardness and improved modulus in DLC films correlate with increasing ion energy, sp3/sp2 bonding ratio, and energy gap. Individual films have mean values of hardness and elastic modulus in the range 12–30 GPa and 62–213 GPa, respectively.