Growth Feature of Diamond-Like Carbon Films by Various Vacuum Plasma Methods

Abstract

Abstract. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were prepared on silicon substrate using four different vacuum plasma methods: magnetron sputtering (MS), pulse laser ablation (PLA), ion beam deposition (IBD) and pulse cathode vacuum arc evaporation (CVAE). The microstructure, surface morphology and optical properties of the DLC films were investigated by Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV-visible spectrophotometer. The results showed that the films prepared by different vacuum plasma methods varied in the microstructure. The film prepared by CVAE possessed the smallest grain size of graphite with the highest disordering of Csp2 clusters, while more disordered Csp2 clusters presented in the DLC film due to the high ions energy density during PLA. Meanwhile, the deposition methods mainly affected the size of particles and roughness of the DLC films under the same thickness. The film by PLA shows a quite smooth surface structure with uniform particle size. In terms of the optical properties, the films prepared by magnetron sputtering expressed the best optical performance among the four vacuum plasma methods.