RF-Plasma Deposition Of Hydrogenated Hard Carbon Thin Films

TLDR: In this article, a-C:H thin films were prepared from hydrocarbons such as CH4, C2H4 and C6H6 in a capacitively coupled RF-discharge.

Abstract: Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) thin films were prepared from hydrocarbons such as CH4, C2H4 and C6H6 in a capacitively coupled RF-discharge. a-C:H films which are electrically insulating (10 12 2Ωcm), transparent in the IR and very hard (on the order of 1400 kp/mm2 Knoop hardness) were deposited on glass, quartz, Si, Ge, SiC, GaAs and Gd3Ga5O12. This method allows large area (several inch diameter) homogeneous coatings and using C6H6 also gives high deposition rates on the order of 1000 A/min. The deposition process is described and the influence of various deposition parameters is discussed. It is shown that by means of the two parameters negative self bias and gas pressure coating properties such as refractive index can be easily tuned and controlled. The application of a-C:H as a single layer antireflection coating on Ge for 10.6 [im is demonstrated; the reflection at 10.6 pri is less than 0.2%.© (1983) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.