Amorphous hydrogenated carbon films treated by SF₆plasma

Abstract

This work was performed to verify the chemical structure, mechanical and hydrophilic properties of amorphous hydrogenated carbon films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition, using acetylene/argon mixture as monomer. Films were prepared in a cylindrical quartz reactor, fed by 13.56 MHz radiofrequency. The films were grown during 5 min, for power varying from 25 to 125 W at a fixed pressure of 9.5 Pa. After deposition, all samples were treated by SF 6 plasma with the aim of changing their hydrophilic character. Film chemical structure investigated by Raman spectroscopy, revealed the increase of sp 3 hybridized carbon bonds as the plasma power increases. Hardness measurements performed by the nanoindentation technique showed an improvement from 5 GPa to 14 GPa following the increase discharge power. The untreated films presented a hydrophilic character, which slightly diminished after SF 6 plasma treatment.

The Effect of a Multihollow Cathode on the Self-Bias Voltage of Methane RF Discharge Used for a-C:H Deposition

“…The amorphous hydrogenated carbon films (a-C:H) that are typically dense, hard and transparent are of great interest in different areas of sciences and technology; such as in microelectronics, IR spectroscopy; instrumental and medical industries [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Various deposition methods are used such as arc [7], sputtering [8,9] and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [10,11]. However, changing the system operation parameters, in particular gas pressure and incident power can strongly affect the deposited film structure and properties [11,12].…”

“…Various deposition methods are used such as arc [7], sputtering [8,9] and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [10,11]. However, changing the system operation parameters, in particular gas pressure and incident power can strongly affect the deposited film structure and properties [11,12]. The geometry of the cathode plays also a crucial role on the plasma parameters, such as the energy and flux of ions that strike the film surface, which can affect the deposition parameters like growth rate of the deposited film [13].…”