Surface studies of diamond-like carbon films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

The influence of plasma pressure on the surface morphology of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, synthesized by plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) has been investigated. The DLC films have been grown at different methane-argon ratios. The grain size and the surface roughness have been studied as a function of plasma pressure. The morphology and surface roughness of the films have been inspected by atomic force microscopy. The film surface has also been characterized by Raman spectroscopy to study the hybridization of carbon in the film so as to evaluate its carbon composition. The results confirm that the film grown at low argon pressure has more uniform distribution on the substrate. The Raman spectrum indicates that increase in plasma pressure leads to a proportional increase in the amount of sp(3) hybridized carbon in the grown film. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.