AVS 47th International Symposium
    Thin Films Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuP

Paper TF-TuP33
Structural, Morphological, and Mechanical Properties of Plasma Deposited Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon Thin Films: Noble Gas Dilution Effects

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 5:30 pm, Room Exhibit Hall C & D

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: L. Valentini, Universita di Perugia, Italy
Authors: L. Valentini, Universita di Perugia, Italy
J.M. Kenny, Universita di Perugia, Italy
G. Carlotti, Universita di Perugia, Italy
G. Socino, Universita di Perugia, Italy
G. Mariotto, Universita di Trento, Italy
P. Tosi, Universita di Trento, Italy
L. Lozzi, Universita dell'Aquila, Italy
S. Santucci, Universita dell'Aquila, Italy
Correspondent: Click to Email
Recent studies of Ar dilution effects on hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films have been motivated by two factors: the possibility to synthesise diamond films at high temperature@footnote 1@ and the identification of the growth species. One way to pursue this issue consists in the investigation of the effects related to the dilution of methane by rare gases. In this paper a thorough investigation of a-C:H films deposited by rf glow discharge from methane-argon mixtures, for different Ar fractions, onto silicon substrate is presented. The structural, mechanical and morphological properties of these films were investigated by complementary techniques, such as x-ray reflectivity (XRR), Raman spectroscopy, Brillouin light scattering (BLS), tribology and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Experimental results are examined to develop a coherent picture of the relationships between deposition parameters, microstructural features and macroscopic properties, as well as to show how the results are found to be consistent with theoretical calculations@footnote 2@ that relates properties with different chemical composition of the plasmas. The effects due to film deposition parameters such as Ar dilution, applied substrate bias and film properties are discussed in order to clarify which process parameters are important in film formation. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@T.G. McCauley, D.M. Gruen, and A.R. Krauss, Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 1646 (1998). @footnote 2@C. Riccardi, R. Barni, M. Fontanesi, and P. Tosi, to be published.