Deposition of Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) Films
Elementary carbon can crystallize into different types of lattices and disordered structures, due to the three different hybridizations possible in chemical bonds. Well-known are diamond with sp3 hybridization (tetragonal structure) and graphite with sp2 hybridization (hexagonal planes).
A way to benefit from the unique properties of the sp3 hybridization of carbon, with much lower production costs, is the synthesis of diamond-like carbon (DLC). DLC is an amorphous form of carbon with a significant fraction of sp3 bonds, and thus with akin properties as diamond.
The high hardness of this material is useful for protective coatings of tools, hard discs, MEMS, or optics (esp. EUV-optics). Another application is the coating of compression molds for ultra-precise glass molding. These are used in lenses manufacturing for infrared cameras and medical systems.
The scia Cube 300 deposits DLC films by PECVD.
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Fig. 1: Lattice of diamond, every carbon atom is bonded to four neighbors (red lines) due to sp³ hybridization
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Related Information
Related Product - scia Cube 300
- PECVD enables the deposition of DLC layers with less than 1.5 % uniformity variation
- DLC properties are precisely adjustable by changing process conditions