A new technique to etch a substrate as a pre-treatment prior to functional film deposition was developed using a filtered vacuum arc plasma. An Ar-dominated plasma beam was generated from filtered carbon arc plasma by introducing appropriate flow rate of Ar gas in a T-shape filtered arc deposition (T-FAD) system. The radiation spectra emitted from the filtered plasma beam in front of a substrate table were measured. The substrate was etched by the Ar-dominated plasma beam. The principal results are summarized as follows. At a high flow rate of Ar gas (50 ml/min), when the bias was applied to the substrate, the plasma was attracted toward the substrate table and the 2 substrate was well etched without film formation on the substrate. Super hard alloy (WC), bearing steel (SUJ2), and Si wafer were etched by the Ar-dominated plasma beam. The etching rate was dependent on the kind of substrate. The roughness of the substrate increased, when the etching rate was high. A pulse bias etched the substrate without roughening the substrate surface excessively.
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films, which are amorphous carbon films, have been used as hard-coating films for protecting the surface of mechanical parts. Nitrogen-containing DLC (N-DLC) films are expected as conductive hard-coating materials. N-DLC films are expected in applications such as protective films for contact pins, which are used in the electrical check process of integrated circuit chips. In this study, N-DLC films are prepared using the T-shaped filtered arc deposition (T-FAD) method, and film properties are investigated. Film hardness and film density decreased when the N content increased in the films because the number of graphite structures in the DLC film increased as the N content increased. These trends are similar to the results of a previous study. The electrical resistivity of N-DLC films changed from 0.26 to 8.8 Ω cm with a change in the nanoindentation hardness from 17 to 27 GPa. The N-DLC films fabricated by the T-FAD method showed high mechanical hardness and low electrical resistivity.
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