THE STRENGTHENING MECHANISM OF DLC FILM ON SILICON BY MPECVD

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings were successfully produced on the s ilicon wafer by a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) with the precursor gases of methane, hydrogen and argon. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) was applied to an alyze the nano-particles in the coating. Both diamond and silicon carb ide (SiC) nano-clusters of sizes ranging from 2 to 5 nm were observed in the DLC films. The dispersion of nano-clusters of diamond and SiC i mproves the film quality in terms of crystallinity and hardness of the DLC coating significantly. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.