MANUFACTURE OF AMORPHOUS-CARBON LAYERS BY RF DENSE-PLASMA CVD

The results of experimental studies on the manufacture of amorphous carbon layers by a new method of r.f. dense plasma CVD are presented. The idea of this method is to excite a plasma in methane or other hydrocarbons in an r.f. electric field at a relatively high gas pressure of about 50-400 Pa. The Vickers hardness of the amorphous diamond layers obtained was about 9000 VHN. Amorphous diamond coatings produced by the r.f. dense CH4 plasma method on AISI 316L steel used in surgery were investigated to determine their suitability as biomaterials.