Deposition of DLC films using intense pulsed beam in plasma focus device

Diamond like carbon (DLC) films were deposited on the silicon substrate using the dense plasm focus (DPF) device. The intense pulsed ion and electron beams, emitted from the DPF device with hydrogen as filling gas at 300 Pa, have been used to ablate the graphite target depositing DLC films. The deposited samples were analyzed for their hardness, structure and chemical composition by nano-indenter, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Raman studies verified the formation of DLC films with D and G peaks. Raman spectra indicated that samples deposited by the electron beam ablation possessed higher sp3 content. Studies of film plastic hardness with a nano-indenter found that the DLC films deposited by the electron beam ablation have three times higher mechanical hardness than those by the ion beam ablation. Hardness results were in good agreement with Raman results. © 2017 The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan.