Synthesis of Diamond-Like Carbon Films Using a Bi-Modal Sputter Deposition with Xe IONS

Abstract

An alternative approach to a sputtering process was examined where a single incident beam of Xe ions was used to simultaneously sputter a carbon target and bombard a growing film. The hypothesis that by positioning a substrate at grazing angles to the central axis of the ion beam, the additional energy provided will be beneficial to the formation of sp3 bonding. Amorphous carbon (a-C) and diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were synthesized by sputtering a graphite target from a Kaufmann-type ion source. Experimental results revealed that when a substrate was placed at grazing angles due to a secondary resputtering process, it was not possible to fabricate DLCs but only sp2-rich polymeric a-C. For DLC synthesis the optimal angles of the target and the substrate to the ion flux were found to be 30 degrees and 0 degrees, respectively, and the ion energies of 0.8–1 keV.