Influence of torch power and Ar/C₂H₂ratio on structure of amorphous carbon films

Abstract

The amorphous hydrogenated carbon films (a-C:H) were formed on the stainless steel substrates from an argon-acetylene gas mixture at atmospheric pressure using a direct current plasma torch discharge. The carbon films were deposited using Ar/C2H2 gas volume ratios 100:1, 150:1, and 200:1 and plasma torch power of 600 and 870 W. It has been obtained that the increase of the torch power leads to higher film growth rate and increases surface roughness. The growth rate varies from 20 up to 425 nm/s depending on the coating formation conditions. The structure and dominant bonds of the films were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy (RS) measurements. RS results indicated that the sp 2 /sp 3 content in the films depended on the torch power and C2H2 amount in argon plasma. It was demonstrated that a diamond-like / graphite-like carbon and glassy carbon films could be deposited by varying the Ar/C2H2 ratio and plasma torch power.

Surface characterisation of carbon films produced by plasma chemical vapour deposition method

“…18 The relative ratio of the D peak to G peak (Table 1) is higher compared to typical diamond-like carbon films and shows that the relative fraction of sp 2 sites is higher than that of sp 3 sites. 19 Concerning argon effect on amorphous hydrogenated carbon structure, Tomasella et al 20 have denoted an increase in graphitisation when this carrier gas was employed.…”

Formation and Characterization of Carbon and Nickel Oxide/Carbon Composites for Supercapacitors

“…More details about the * corresponding author; e-mail: zydrunas@mail.lei.lt plasma torch and deposition process can be found elsewhere [7]. Argon (Ar) was used as the plasma working gas with a flow rate of 6.6 l/min.…”