Deposition of thick carbon coatings by cathodic arc

Full text: We report that we are able to deposit thick carbon coatings on silicon substrates. To date, low intrinsic stress, strongly adherent coatings in excess of 11 μm (11,000 nm) have been attained, with no indication that this thickness is an upper limit. Micro-indentation studies indicate that a degree of control over the hardness of the film has been obtained. Similar carbon films deposited on Ti4A16V alloy show promising tribological properties in pin-on-disc wear testing. Cross-sectional TEM examination reveals layer structures. We are able to control both the thickness and number of the individual layers. Electron diffraction and parallel electron energy loss spectroscopy (PEELS) studies of the first volume plasmon and the k-edge structures suggest a mix of amorphous and graphitic carbon, the relative amounts of amorphous and graphitic carbon in each of the layers varying with the deposition parameters