Effects of metal-plasma source ion implantation on the adhesion strength of DLC film

Summary form only given, as follows. Diamond-like carbon(DLC) films are of considerable research interests because of their widespread applications as protective coatings in areas such as magnetic storage disks, biomaterial coatings and as micro-electromechanical devices(MEMs). Although DLC films have been considered as a strong candidate for various applications due to its excellent mechanical properties, their poor adhesion on tool steels limits the applications. In order to overcome this drawback, some ideas were introduced. Recently, ion implantation was used to improve the adhesion between thin film and substrate. In this work, we investigated effect of ion implantation on the adhesion strength of DLC film as a function of ion doses and implanted energies. Ti and W ions were implanted on the Si-wafer and WC-Co substrates, then DLC films were deposited by ion beam deposition method. A CSEM-REVETEST scratch tester was used to assess the adhesion characteristics. From results, the adhesion strength of films was improved as increasing ion implantation energy, however there was no significant change with ion dose. Further results, including morphology and compositional variation at the different ion energies and doses, will be presented.