저널

The properties of tetrahedral amorphous Carbon (ta-C) film can be determined by multiple parameters and comprehensive effects of those parameters during a deposition process with filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA). In this study, Taguchi method was adopted to design the optimized FCVA deposition process of ta-C for improving deposition efficiency and mechanical properties of the deposited ta-C thin film. The influence and contribution of variables, such as arc current, substrate bias voltage, frequency, and duty cycle, on the properties of ta-C were investigated in terms of deposition efficiency and mechanical properties. It was revealed that the deposition rate was linearly increased following the increasing arc current (around 10 nm/min @ 60 A and 17 nm/min @ 100A). The hardness and ID/IG showed a correlation with substrate bias voltage (over 30 GPa @ 50 V and under 30 GPa @ 250 V). The scratch tests were conducted to specify the effect of each parameter on the resistance to plastic deformation of films. The analysis on variances showed that the arc current and substrate bias voltage were the most effective controlling parameters influencing properties of ta-C films. The optimized parameters were extracted for the target applications in various industrial fields.

Filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA); Taguchi robust design; Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C);Diamond like carbon (DLC)