Characteristics of Silicon/Nitrogen-Incorporated Diamond-Like Carbon Films Prepared by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition

Deposition of silicon-doped diamond-like carbon films by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition using an intermittent supply of organosilane

“…The specific wear rate monotonically increases with increasing Si content. Similar trend of the wear rate has been reported in the previous literatures [8,23]. The increase in wear rate is mainly due to the decrease in the hardness of the films with an increase in the Si content in the films [9][10][11].…”

Tribological properties and thermal stability of hydrogenated, silicon/nitrogen-coincorporated diamond-like carbon films prepared by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

“…35) An HMDS molecule or a DMS molecule dissociates more easily than a CH 4 molecule, resulting in the increase in the number of radicals with HMDS or DMS flow ratio. [26][27][28] On the other hand, the deposition rates of the hydrogenated Si-N-DLC 28) films deposited using HMDS are higher than those of the hydrogenated Si-DLC films deposited using DMS. This is chiefly due to the difference in the number of atoms in a molecule between HMDS and DMS.…”

“…All the films show N=Si ratios close to that in an HMDS molecule (0.5). [26][27][28] Figures 3(a) and 3(b) show the visible Raman spectra of the films deposited at different HMDS and DMS flow ratios at a substrate bias voltage of −1000 V, respectively. The experimental Raman spectra can be fitted by two Gaussian components with large FWHMs at ∼1540 and ∼1350 cm −1 , which correspond to G (graphite) and D (disorder) peaks, respectively.…”

“…25) We have prepared Si-N-DLC films by radio-frequency (RF) plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using hexamethyldisilazane [((CH 3 ) 3 Si) 2 NH; HMDS] as the Si and N source. [26][27][28] We have obtained some important results: (1) the adhesion strengths of the hydrogenated Si-N-DLC films are higher than those of the hydrogenated Si-DLC films because of the further reduction of internal stress; (2) the friction coefficients of the Si-N-DLC films are as low as those of the Si-DLC films in air atmosphere; (3) in spite of almost the same Si fraction, the Si-N-DLC films have a higher wear resistance than the Si-DLC films; (4) the mechanical and tribological properties of the Si-N-DLC films prepared using a pulse substrate bias are further improved compared with those of the Si-N-DLC films prepared using a DC bias. 26,28) In our previous studies, hydrogenated Si-N-DLC films were deposited at a substrate bias voltage of −500 V. [26][27][28] As substrate bias voltage has significant effects on the mechanical and tribological properties of DLC films, it is necessary to examine its effects on the properties of hydrogenated Si-N-DLC films.…”

Plasma parameter investigation during plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of silicon-containing diamond-like carbon films

“…Further film modification and improvement can be achieved by the simultaneous incorporation of several elements such as Si-N-DLC [53][54][55] and Si-O-DLC [5,23,45,55], preparation of multilayer coatings [45,56,57] or surface texturing [58].…”