Premium
Plasma deposition and etching of diamond‐like carbon films
Author(s) -
David Moses,
Padiyath Raghunath,
Babu Suryadevara V.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690370307
Subject(s) - deposition (geology) , argon , analytical chemistry (journal) , plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition , reactive ion etching , etching (microfabrication) , carbon film , dimensionless quantity , silicon , chemistry , plasma , hydrogen , plasma etching , materials science , thin film , composite material , nanotechnology , thermodynamics , metallurgy , paleontology , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , layer (electronics) , quantum mechanics , sediment , biology
Diamond‐like carbon films have been deposited from ternary mixtures of butadiene, hydrogen and argon in a parallel plate plasma reactor at constant pressure and power. These films have been etched in O 2 and CF 4 /O 2 plasma discharges. A new linear relationship between the composition of the deposition gas mixture and a dimensionless number (E N ) defined in terms of etch and deposition rates and the bias voltage during deposition has been derived. E N is a function of the ion flux during deposition. Electron‐impact ionization processes are considered for relating the ion flux to the feed gas composition and ionization potentials. The etch and deposition rate data follow this linear relationship very well. The proportionality constant in this linear relationship varies with composition for CF 4 /O 2 etching data. Film hardness and failure modes on silicon and glass substrates are also described.