Deposition and properties of diamondlike carbon films produced in microwave and radio-frequency plasma

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Abstract
Hard a-C:H films were grown in a dual frequency plasma sustained simultaneously by microwave and radio-frequency power. ‘‘Optimum’’ growth conditions, namely those leading to the most pronounced sp3 structural features in the films, depend very strongly on the methane feed gas flow rate and on the argon concentration, in the case of CH4/Ar mixtures. These optimum conditions have been found to correspond to maximum values of ion flux at the growing film surface, and high concentrations of precursor species such as CH, C2, C3, and atomic hydrogen in the plasma, as revealed by optical emission spectroscopy. Films grown under optimum conditions have very high microhardness (∼50 GPa), high density (1.8 g/cm−3), and low internal stress (0.5 GPa). Addition of argon to the methane is shown to enhance the gas phase fragmentation and to raise the microhardness, but argon atoms trapped in the films’ structure increase the internal stress.

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