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