Investigated the ion energy and the microstructure properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon film produced by pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc combined with plasma biasing technique
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55713/jmmm.v34i4.2168Keywords:
Pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc, Plasma biasing technique, Average ion energy, Microstructure, ta-C filmAbstract
The purpose of this work is to demonstrate that operations using the plasma biasing technique in pulsed filtered cathodic vacuum arc (PFCVA) enable an energy-enhanced in deposition process for the high quality of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) thin films (high sp3 content, denser, and very low surface roughness). The effect of anode bias potential on the energy distribution function of C+ ions, including the topography, microstructure, chemical state, and density of ta-C films, was systematically investigated. It was found that the plasma biasing technique can increase the average energy of C+ ions, but nevertheless, the ion flux and ion density decreased. The ion energetically enhanced deposition during PFCVA facilitates the densification of the films up to 3.30 g∙cm‒3 for substrate with the grounded substrate condition, and up to 3.22 g∙cm‒3 for substrate with the floating substrate condition. In addition, the films surface roughness and sp3 content significantly depend on the average ion energy.
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