Characterization of carbon thin films prepared by high power impulse magnetron sputtering

Abstract

The characteristics of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films deposited by high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) with multipolar magnetic plasma confinement (MMPC) were investigated. DLC films were prepared on silicon (Si) by HiPIMS and HiP-IMS-MMPC over varying substrate bias voltage. Depositions were performed from a graphite target (210 mm in diameter) under argon (Ar) gas atmosphere at chamber pressure of 0.5 Pa. The DLC films were analyzed by several methods. In HiPIMS-MMPC, the peak power density was approximately 690 W/cm2 at a duty cycle of 1%(frequency: 200 Hz). According to Raman spectroscopy, the structure of DLC ilm deposited by HiPIMS-MMPC could be changed from amorphous carbon (a-C) to tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C). The deposition rate in HiPIMS-MMPC was approximately 50%(10 nm/min) lower than that in HiPIMS. However, HiP-IMS-MMPC is considered as one of the effective methods to prepare hard and dense DLC films (20 GPa and 2.00 g/cm3 at the maximum).