Formation of diamond-like carbon film using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Highlights: • Ion energy distribution function(IEDF) for carbon target in HiPIMS was clarified. • The IEDF of Ar + contained both low- and high-energy components. • The IEDF of C+ contained only high-energy components. • An increase in the applied voltage resulted in a decrease in the friction coefficient of DLC films. -- Abstract: In this study, a diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were formed using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), after which the ion energy distribution function (IEDF) for the argon ions (Ar⁺) and carbon ions (C⁺) was measured using energy-resolved mass spectrometry in order to clarify the role of the HiPIMS operating parameters and gas species on the film quality and the resulting tribological performance. We found that the IEDF for Ar⁺ contained both low-energy and high-energy components, whereas the IEDF for C⁺ contained primarily high-energy components. For DLC films formed at a substrate bias voltage of zero under the same gas-phase analysis conditions, we found that the deposition rate increased linearly as the applied voltage was increased, and that the carbon structure showed little change when analyzed by Raman spectroscopy. In addition, both the friction coefficient and the wear resistance were improved. These results indicate that both Ar⁺ and C⁺ have the potential to play important roles in determining the deposition mechanism and quality of DLC films.