No abstract

Systematic investigation on the deposition of thin silicon-carbon-nitride films by reactive rf magnetron sputtering from SiC–C composite target in nitrogen-argon atmosphere was studied. The significant effect of deposition pressures on the hardness of the deposited SiCN films was found, which varied between 4.7 and 44GPa. The films were found to be amorphous from x-ray diffraction analysis but localized crystallization was noticed during atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on these deposited films. The AFM studies also suggested that the increased hardness was due to reduction in particle size and localized formation of β-C3N4 and β-Si3N4 phase in the films. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses showed the formation of C–N and Si–N bonds for the harder film. The increased nitrogen concentration in the sputtering gas mixture to 99% resulted in large particle growth and graphitic phase formation, which exhibited a low hardness value of 4.7GPa. The high C content and low Si content in the deposited films facilitated the graphitic phase formation.

DLC films are deposited on PMMA substrates using Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition (RF-PECVD) technique with the variation of RF power at a constant pressure of 5 × 10-2 mbar. Acetylene diluted with argon is used as a precursor for the deposition of DLC films. No external heating is provided during deposition. Deposited films are characterized using Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, Optical contact angle (OCA) technique and AFM. Raman spectra shows a G peak near 1550 cm-1 and a D peak near 1320 cm-1. FTIR spectra shows a peak near 2900 cm-1 corresponding to C-H stretching modes and peaks below 2000 cm-1 corresponding to C-C modes and C-H bending modes. Surface morphology of the films has been studied with AFM and the result shows the formation of uniform films. Optical contact angle (OCA) shows that DLC coated PMMA is more hydrophobic compared to uncoated surface.