Filtered arc deposition of amorphous diamond

Lossy, R.; Pappas, David; Roy, R.; Cuomo, J. J.; Sura, Vivek M.

doi:10.1063/1.108208

Cited by 153 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Highly tetrahedrally bonded ta-C films have also been deposited using laser initiated vacuum arcs, and pulsed cathodic arcs, 7,8 and hydrogenated ta-C films deposited using a plasma beam source. 9 There is much interest in all of these films due to their unique mechanical properties.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nanocrystallites in tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

Ravi

Silva

et al. 1996

Applied Physics Letters

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The microstructure of filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposited tetrahedral amorphous carbon films is studied as a function of ion energy. An optimum energy window in the density and C-C sp 3 content at an ion energy of ϳ90 eV observed in this study. It is shown that the density of the amorphous carbon films are closely related to the sp 3 content. The observation of nanocrystals embedded in the amorphous carbon matrix is reported. Most of the crystals observed by transmission electron microscopy can be indexed to graphite, but some of the crystals can be indexed to cubic diamond. The chemical composition of the crystals is analyzed using electron energy loss spectroscopy ͑EELS͒. The only discernible EELS edge is that of C at an energy of 285 eV. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. ͓S0003-6951͑96͒03230-5͔Filtered cathodic vacuum arc ͑FCVA͒ deposited carbon films have the unique property of producing high quality diamondlike amorphous carbon films with a high sp 3 content. 1,2 The film properties are critically dependent on the ion energy of the species. The carbon plasma initiated from a graphite target by the vacuum arc is sustained during the deposition and macroparticles associated with the arc process are filtered using a 90°bend toroidal solenoid in the deposition system. We have investigated the relationship between the bonding structure in the films and the ion energy of the C species. At a particular threshold ion energy the particles found in the tetrahedral amorphous carbon ͑ta-C͒ films have been studied using transmission electron microscopy ͑TEM͒ and electron energy loss spectroscopy ͑EELS͒. Although there are reports that diamond nanocrystallites have been observed in diamondlike carbon ͑DLC͒ films deposited under low temperature and low pressure conditions, 3-6 direct observation of diamond crystals in deposition techniques that do not operate at high temperatures and high pressures is not common. This is because graphite is the stable crystalline form of carbon under these conditions.Highly tetrahedrally bonded ta-C films have also been deposited using laser initiated vacuum arcs, and pulsed cathodic arcs, 7,8 and hydrogenated ta-C films deposited using a plasma beam source. 9 There is much interest in all of these films due to their unique mechanical properties. 7,10 Recently, Yin et al. 11 have found cauliflower-like growths ͑nanocrys-tals͒ which cannot be indexed to graphite in their FCVA deposited films, which are considered to be precursors for diamond growth. 12 However, there has been no published literature on the observation of diamond nanocrystallites in ta-C films deposited using the FCVA. In this letter, we report on the observation of nanocrystallites that index to diamond, deposited under low temperature/low pressure conditions using such a system.The FCVA films were deposited with a base pressure of 2ϫ10 Ϫ6 Torr which increased to 1ϫ10 Ϫ5 Torr during deposition. The substrate bias is varied from 0 to Ϫ120 V, while the arc current remained constant at ϳ60 A. A toroidal magnetic field ...

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confidence: 99%

Nanocrystallites in tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

Ravi

Silva

et al. 1996

Applied Physics Letters

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“…It is believed that a broad intermixed region which forms between the substrate and the film is responsible for the observed good adhesion properties. Cathodic arc plasma deposition of TiN films [ 10,111 and (hydrogen-free) hard amophous carbon films [12,13] have been up to now the most successful applications of the method.…”

Section: Cathodic Arc Plasma Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Film Synthesis on Powders by Cathodic ARC Plasma Deposition

Anders

Brown

et al. 1995

MRS Proc.

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Cathodic arc plasma deposition was used to coat Al2O3 powder (mesh size 60) with platinum. the power particles were moved during deposition using a mechanical system operating at a resonance frequency of 20 Hz. Scanning electron microscopy and auger electron microscopy show that all particles are completely coated with a platinum film having a thickness of about 100 nm. the actual deposition time was only 20 s, thus the deposition rate was very high (5 nm/s).

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“…[20,21] There are large variations even within each class of materials, depending on the method and parameters of deposition. Diamond-like carbon films can be synthesized by argon sputter deposition using a graphite target [12,22] [6,16,20,21]. Research over the last years has identified filtered cathodic arc deposition as one of the promising techniques for hard carbon films thinner than 5 nm [28,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Amorphous carbon films (a-C) that have more than 80% tetrahedral (sp 3 ) bonding are referred to as tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) [7,9,19], or sometimes even as "amorphous diamond." [20,21] There are large variations even within each class of materials, depending on the method and parameters of deposition. Diamond-like carbon films can be synthesized by argon sputter deposition using a graphite target [12,22] [6,16,20,21].…”

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Ultrathin diamond-like carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

Anders

Fong

Kulkarni

et al. 2001

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Ultrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are of great interest to the magnetic storage industry as the areal density approaches 100 Gbit/in 2 . These films are used as overcoats to protect the magnetic layers on disk media and the active elements of the read-write slider. Tetrahedral amorphous carbon films can be produced by filtered cathodic arc deposition, but the films will only be accepted by the storage industry only if the "macroparticle" issue has been solved. Better plasma filters have been developed over recent years. Emphasis is put on the promising twist filter system -a compact, open structure that operates with pulsed arcs and high magnetic field. Based on corrosion tests it is shown that the macroparticle reduction by the twist filter is satisfactory for this demanding application, while plasma throughput is very high. Ultrathin hard carbon films have been synthesized using Sfilter and twist filter systems. Film properties such as hardness, elastic modulus, wear, and corrosion resistance have been tested. Index Terms: diamond-like carbon, cathodic vacuum arc, macroparticle filtering, magnetic storage, carbon overcoats 3 I. INTRODUCTIONUltrathin (< 5 nm) hard carbon films are used as protective overcoats on hard disks and readwrite heads. The tribological properties of the head-disk interface are not only of mechanical but also of chemical nature: the overcoat should protect the magnetic layers against wear and corrosion [1, 2]. The areal density of information stored in disk drive products increased at an amazing rate of over 65% for many years rate, and continues to accelerate to even greater rates [3]. To accomplish this, the "magnetic spacing" between the magnetic layers of the disk and read/write sensor of the head must continue to decrease. The magnetic spacing includes the overcoats, lubrication, and the fly height. Thinner overcoats allow the read-write head to be closer to the magnetic layer of the disk, and hence, the size of individual bits on the disk to be smaller. As we work toward an areal density of 100 Gbit/in 2 , the magnetic spacing approaches the sub-10-nm regime (pseudo-contact recording) and overcoat thickness must shrink to 1-2 nm. Overcoats currently used are sputtered or ion-beam deposited diamond-like carbon films, typically doped with hydrogen or nitrogen. They cease to provide acceptable levels of corrosion protection when the film thickness is less than 5 nm.Overcoats need to be tough (hard and elastic), chemically inert, pinhole-free, and compatible with the lubricant. The challenge of ultrathin film synthesis is to make the films as thin as possible and still continuous, as opposed to an assembly of islands.Nucleation and growth of ultrathin films is a field of intense research. For carbon, it is well known that films that are rich in sp 3 (diamond) bonds should be grown in a kinetic mode at low temperature (less than 200°C, preferably room temperature), with film-forming carbon atoms or ions having an energy of about 100 eV. This energy is optimized for subplantat...

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Filtered arc deposition of amorphous diamond

Cited by 153 publications

References 22 publications

Nanocrystallites in tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

Nanocrystallites in tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

Film Synthesis on Powders by Cathodic ARC Plasma Deposition

Ultrathin diamond-like carbon films deposited by filtered carbon vacuum arcs

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