A comparison of DLC film properties obtained by r.f. PACVD, IBAD, and enhanced pulsed-DC PACVD

This paper compares the properties of the DLC films obtained by three different deposition methods – r.f. PACVD, IBAD, and Enhanced Pulsed-DC PACVD (EP-DC PACVD) – chosen for their low cost and capacity to produce films at a high growth rate which have a low friction coefficient, minimum total stress, and maximum adherence to substrates covering large surface areas. A summary of the degree of hardness, friction coefficient, deposition rate, total stress, adherence, and structural properties as function of self-bias voltage for r.f. PACVD, ion beam current for IBAD, and pulsed-bias for EP-DC PACVD techniques was presented. The obtained results show that the DLC films deposited using the low-cost EP-DC PACVD provided the best overall results, presenting a very high adherence with titanium alloy substrates, a low friction coefficient, low total stress, and a high hardness, over a large deposition area at a reasonable growth rate.