Preparation of diamond-like carbon by PBII-enhanced microwave ECR chemical vapor deposition

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were fabricated with methane on the surface of Si(100) wafer by combining plasma-based ion implantation and microwave ECR chemical vapor deposition. Raman scattering spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyze the chemical structure of the DLC films and sp3 content of the DLC films was measured by XPS. Atomic force microscope was employed to investigate the surface morphology information of DLC films synthesized by different methods. The hardness of the films was evaluated using microindentation techniques. Results showed that plasma-based ion implantation enhanced ECR chemical vapor deposition could result in the better surface morphology, the higher adhesion strength and the enhanced hardness; in addition, the hardness of the DLC films was elevated by doping with nitrogen.