Influence of high substrate bias voltage on the characteristics of DLC coatings

D. Sheeja, B. K. Tay, Shu Ping Lau

Research output: Journal article publicationConference articleAcademic researchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Adhesive strength is one of the most important properties of any coating, and which can be improved by preparing an interface layer with increased ion energy i.e., by applying high substrate bias voltage. However, the films prepared under high substrate bias may have inferior qualities compared to the films that are prepared without any substrate bias. Hence, an investigation has been carried out to study the effect of high substrate bias voltages on the morphological, microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of diamond-like carbon films. To identify the distinctive effect of the substrate bias, the films are prepared by a single step process with different substrate bias voltages. The morphological study shows that the film has a tendency to be rougher, when it is prepared with increased substrate bias voltages. The microstructure of the film, using laser Raman spectroscopy, show a trend of increased sp2bonded carbon atoms with increased substrate bias voltage. The relatively lower hardness and poor wear resistance are also the characteristics of the films prepared with higher substrate bias voltages. Since the films prepared under high substrate bias voltages are relatively softer, it is essential to optimize the substrate bias voltage as well as the thickness of the interface layer, to get a harder adhesive coating.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)157-162
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume4227
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2000
Externally publishedYes
EventAdvanced Microelectronic Processing Techniques - Singapure, Singapore
Duration: 28 Nov 200030 Nov 2000

Keywords

  • Adhesion
  • Diamond-like carbon
  • FCVA technique
  • Hardness
  • Raman spectroscopy
  • Substrate bias
  • Tribology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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