SPUTTERING CHARACTERISTICS OF DIAMOND AND HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-CARBON FILMS BY RF PLASMA

The sputtering of diamond films made by the hot filament method and hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films made by the plasma chemical vapour deposition was carried out using a well-known parallel-plate r.f. plasma system. After the sputtering by the argon r.f. plasma, a sputtering step between the masked area and the sputtered area was studied with a scanning electron microscope. The sputtering rate of hard amorphous carbon films (nearly 6 nm min-1) was three times greater than of diamond film (nearly 2 nm min-1) at 5×10-2 Torr with argon ions. The hydrogen contents of these films was estimated from the IR spectra vs. CH4 gas pressure relationship for the deposited a-C:H films. The relationship between the sputtering rate of the a-C:H films and hydrogen content of the film was investigated and it was concluded that the hardness of the a-C:H film was directly related to the hydrogen content. Hydrogen was scarcely included in the diamond film made by the hot filament method according to the IR measurements. © 1990.