DLC thin film preparation by cathodic arc deposition with a super droplet-free system

Diamond-like carbon films, which are fabricated by means of a cathodic vacuum arc with a graphite cathode, are investigated from the viewpoint of the number of macrodroplets on the film observed with an optical microscope. A straight-type filtered arc deposition (Linear-FAD) system, a 45° torus-type filtered arc deposition (Torus-FAD) system, and a newly developed T-shape filtered arc deposition (T-FAD) system were tested, comparing them with a normal cathodic arc deposition (normal-CAD) system and a shielded cathodic arc deposition (S-CAD) system. The three filtered arc deposition (FAD) type systems showed a remarkable reduction in graphite macrodroplets. Among the FADs, T-FAD drastically reduced the number of macrodroplets to 0.2–0.4% of that for normal-CAD and S-CAD, and to approximately 1% of that for Linear-FAD and Torus-FAD.