Effect of additional sample bias in Meshed Plasma Immersion Ion Deposition (MPIID) on microstructural, surface and mechanical properties of Si-DLC films

Highlights: • A novel Meshed Plasma Immersion Ion Deposition is proposed. • The deposited Si-DLC films possess denser structures and high deposition rate. • It is attributed to ion bombardment of the deposited films. • The ion energy can be independently controlled by an additional bias (novel set up). - Abstract: Meshed Plasma Immersion Ion Deposition (MPIID) using cage-like hollow cathode discharge is a modified process of conventional PIID, but it allows the deposition of thick diamond-like carbon (DLC) films (up to 50 μm) at a high deposition rate (up to 6.5 μm/h). To further improve the DLC film properties, a new approach to the MPIID process is proposed, in which the energy of ions incident to the sample surface can be independently controlled by an additional voltage applied between the samples and the metal meshed cage. In this study, the meshed cage was biased with a pulsed DC power supply at −1350 V peak voltage for the plasma generation, while the samples inside the cage were biased with a DC voltage from 0 V to −500 V with respect to the cage to study its effect. Si-DLC films were synthesized with a mixture of Ar, C₂H₂ and tetramethylsilane (TMS). After the depositions, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and nanoindentation were used to study the morphology, surface roughness, chemical bonding and structure, and the surface hardness as well as the modulus of elasticity of the Si-DLC films. It was observed that the intense ion bombardment significantly densified the films, reduced the surface roughness, reduced the H and Si contents, and increased the nanohardness (H) and modulus of elasticity (E), whereas the deposition rate decreased slightly. Using the H and E data, high values of H³/E² and H/E were obtained on the biased films, indicating the potential excellent mechanical and tribological properties of the films. In this paper, the effects of the sample bias voltage on the film properties are discussed in detail and the optimal bias voltage is presented.