| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2014) | |
| Thin Films | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session TF-TuP |
| Session: | Thin Films Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Norio Nawachi, West Region Industrial Research Center, Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute, Japan |
| Authors: | N. Nawachi, West Region Industrial Research Center, Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute, Japan K. Itoh, West Region Industrial Research Center, Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute Y. Isagi, West Region Industrial Research Center, Hiroshima Prefectural Technology Research Institute K. Okamoto, Toyo Advanced Technologies Co., Ltd., Japan T. Nakatani, Research Institute of Technology, Okayama University of Science, Japan |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Diamond-like carbon (DLC) has been considered as a coating for medical devices due to its biocompatibility. In particular, DLC coatings for dental implant made by titanium base alloy are useful as a means of providing high-hardness and a low-friction coefficient. Usually DLC films are deposited by cathodic arc (CA), plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), direct current (DC) or radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering (MS). However, the problem is that DLC films deposited by CA show intrinsic growth defects (droplets). On the other hand, DLC films deposited by DC or RFMS can exhibit smooth surfaces, but adhesion strength of the films is a challenging issue［1, 2］. In recent years, a new magnetron sputtering technology named high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has emerged. HiPIMS allows production of droplet free highly ionized metal flux generated from a sputter source［3, 4］.
In this work, the characteristics of DLC films deposited by HiPIMS have been investigated. DLC films were prepared on silicon (Si) by HiPIMS and DCMS for comparison. Depositions were performed from a graphite target (200mm in diameter) operated at maximum power of 3 kW and at chamber pressure of 0.5 Pa. The same experimental arrangement was used for the DCMS depositions. The DLC films were analyzed by various methods.
In the HiPIMS discharge, the target voltage and peak current were approximately -900V and 200 A, respectively, at a repetition frequency of 1 kHz with a pulse width of 50 μs. The deposition rate in HiPIMS was approximately 50 % lower (23 nm/min) than that in DCMS. Mechanical properties of DLC films prepared by HiPIMS and DCMS will be presented and discussed.
References
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［2］T. Sasaki, S. Abusuilik, K. Inoue, Proc. 12th Int. Symp. On Sputtering and Plasma Processes, Kyoto, Japan, 2013, p. 37.
［3］V. Kouznetsov, K. Macak, J. M. Schneider, U. Helmersson, I. Petrov, Surf. Coat. Technol. 122 (1999) 290.
［4］J. T. Gudmundsson, N. Brenning, D. Lundin, U. Helmersson, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 30 (2012) 030801.