Combined magnetron sputtering and ECR-CVD deposition of diamond-like carbon films

A novel hybrid technique for diamond-like carbon (DLC) film deposition has been developed, which combines the electron cyclotron resonance microwave plasma discharge of C2H2 and metallic magnetron sputtering. In this paper we report our study of this method. The effects of negative bias voltage and hydrocarbon flow rate for the deposition of a-C:H films on high-speed steel were examined by Raman spectra and their hardness was investigated by the Rockwell method. The Raman spectra show that at different hydrocarbon flow rates, the variation of the G line peak and width, and the integrated intensity ratio ID/IG of DLC and graphic, correlate well with the film hardness. Consequently, we suggest a deposition mechanism of DLC for this combined method.