HIGH-ENERGY ION-BEAM-INDUCED MODIFICATIONS IN DIAMOND AND DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON THIN-FILMS

Diamond and DLC thin films deposited using hot-filament chemical vapou r deposition technique at various parameters were irradiated with 50 M eV Si4+ ions. The resulting microstructural changes were studied using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. All the samples s howed the development of beta-SiC and hexagonal carbon phases at the e xpense of the diamond/DLC phase. The ERD analysis was carried;out to d etermine the hydrogen concentration and its distribution in DLC films. The absolute hydrogen concentration in DLC samples is of the order of 10(22) atoms/cm(3) which gets depleted on irradiation. The DLC sample s show a clear dependence of hydrogen content on the deposition parame ters. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd