Relationship between precursor gas flow rate with the structural and morphology properties of diamond like carbon films

Abstract

Diamond like carbon (DLC) thin films were grown onto glass substrates by using direct current plasma enhance chemical vapour deposition (DC-PECVD) system. Films were deposited under fixed deposition pressure (4 × 10-1 Torr), substrate temperature (500 °C) and deposition time (3 hours) but with different flow rate of precursor gas (methane, hydrogen and argon). The fabricated films were characterized by using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). XRD has revealed that the DLC films were having amorphous phase as the XRD spectrum did not show any obvious sharp peak. From AFM, it was discovered that the precursor gas flow rate has inversely relationship with the grain size and surface roughness of films.