Influence of the Inert Gas Pressure on Intrinsic Stress in Diamond-Like Coating Deposited From Vacuum Arc Carbon Plasma

Abstract

Within the framework of the model of the nonlocal thermoelastic peak of low-energy ion, the formation of intrinsic stress in a carbon coating deposited from the vacuum arc plasma in the argon atmosphere is theoretically studied. It is shown that the flow of particles bombarding the deposited coating contains, along with C+ ions, also Ar+ ions involved in the formation of intrinsic stress in the coating. The flux density of Ar+ ions resulting from ionization losses of C+ ions passing through the argon atmosphere is proportional to both the flux density of C+ ions and the density (pressure) of argon. Expressions are obtained for the intrinsic stress in the deposited carbon coating depending on the bias potential on the substrate and the argon pressure for the cases of both constant and pulsed potentials. The analysis of the obtained expressions shows that the intrinsic stress in the carbon coating decrease with increasing argon pressure.