Alloyed and hydrogenated diamond-like carbon thin films deposited by a new high performance microwave low pressure plasma source

Hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were deposited at low pressure (0.05–5 Pa) by a new kind of parabolic designed high performance microwave plasma source. The plasma source can be combined with radio frequency (r.f.) magnetron sputtering in a CVD–PVD-hybrid deposition technique in order to alloy DLC coatings. Due to the geometrical arrangement the distance between the sources amounts to 350 mm. As a consequence of the high performance of the plasma source the growth rate is nevertheless 6 μm h−1 for alloyed DLC coatings. The influence of the microwave power (600–1200 W), gas phase composition (CH4/Ar; C2H2/Ar), r.f.-substrate bias and alloying elements on the plasma parameters, film constitution (AES, REM, FTIR, NRA) and film properties (hardness, Youngʹs modulus, stress) is investigated systematically.