Ultra-thin nano-patterned wear-protective diamond-like carbon coatings deposited on glass using a C60 ion beam

The wear resistance and optical properties of ultra-thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings deposited on glass substrates at room temperature were investigated. The coatings were deposited using a C60 ion beam. A sequence of surface treatments including ion-beam etching, molecular-beam deposition and ion-beam deposition were used for production of ultra-thin DLC coatings with a nano-patterned surface. The goal of the surface nano-patterning was to improve the wear resistance of the DLC coatings while maintaining a low thickness to obtain a high optical transparency. The experimental results demonstrated the excellent ability of the ultra-thin DLC coatings to improve the wear resistance of the glass substrates. A comparison between the wear rate for the DLC coating with nano-patterns and that of a more smooth coating revealed that the nano-patterned surface shows a 39% higher wear resistance. Furthermore, the coatings demonstrated a high transparency (94–97%) in the visible-light wavelength range.