Deposition of diamond-like carbon film using dense plasma focus

This paper reports the deposition of amorphous diamond-like carbon (DLC) films on Si 〈1 0 0〉, using a low energy (1.45 kJ) dense plasma focus. The high purity graphite is inserted at the tip of the tapered anode, which serves as a carbon source. Silicon substrates are placed in front of the anode tip at different axial and angular positions. The films are deposited using multiple focus shots. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) are used to carry out the structural information of these deposited films. The elemental composition is studied by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) whereas scanning electron microscope (SEM) is employed for the study of the surface morphology. Raman spectroscopy shows the deposition of both diamond type tetragonal sp3 and graphite type trigonal sp2 films. The results point towards the formation of good quality amorphous carbon (DLC) films with higher sp3 content as compared to sp2 content. XRD pattern confirms the amorphous nature of the films showing no additional peak except a peak at 2θ = 69° which corresponds to substrate original peak Si(4 0 0). SEM results demonstrate that the smoothness of the surface decreases with increasing value of angles with respect to anode axis. The substrates placed closer to anode axis have higher carbon content as compared to those placed away from anode axis whereas carbon content decreases with increasing axial distances from anode tip.