Deposition of diamond-like carbon films using plasma source ion implantation with pulsed plasmas

Recently a pulsed inductively coupled plasma source suitable for plasma-based ion implantation has been developed. The use of a pulsed plasma for plasma source ion implantation (PSII) processing takes advantage of the fact that a high-density plasma can be obtained with low average power because of the shortening of the plasma ignition time. A time resolved plasma density and the spatial profiles of the pulsed inductive RF plasma for the PSII method were measured. Under the optimal condition of the pulsed plasma, DLC thin films were successfully deposited on silicon substrates using Ar, CH4 and C7H8 gases, and the effects of the implantation voltage on the hydrogen concentration and the deposition rate of DLC coating were measured in the range of 5–20 kV. It was found that the deposition rate decreased with increasing implantation voltage and the hydrogen concentration was within 15–22 at.%.