Corrosion behavior of aluminum doped diamond-like carbon thin films in NaCl aqueous solution

Aluminum doped diamond-like carbon (DLC:Al) thin films were deposited on n-Si(100) substrates by co-sputtering a graphite target under a fixed DC power (650 W) and an aluminum target under varying DC power (10-90 W) at room temperature. The structure, adhesion strength and surface morphology of the DLC:Al films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), micro-scratch testing and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The corrosion performance of the DLC:Al films was investigated by means of potentiodynamic polarization testing in a 0.6 M NaCl aqueous solution. The results showed that the polarization resistance of the DLC:Al films increased from about 18 to 30.7 k(omega) though the corrosion potentials of the films shifted to more negative values with increased Al content in the films.     

Effect of substrate temperature on corrosion performance of nitrogen doped amorphous carbon thin films in NaCl solution

Nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (a-C:N) thin films were deposited on p-Si substrates by DC magnetron sputtering at varying substrate temperature from room temperature (RT) to 300 °C. The bonding structure, surface morphology and adhesion strength of the a-C:N films were investigated by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), micro-Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and micro-scratch testing. The corrosion behavior of the a-C:N films was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization test in a 0.6 M NaCl solution. The results indicated that the corrosion resistance of the films depended on the sp³-bonded cross-link structure that was significantly affected by the substrate temperature.     

Metallic contacts to nitrogen and boron doped diamond-like carbon films

Hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (DLC) was deposited using a radio-frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. Electrical properties of Al, Au, Ti, and Zr contacts to nitrogen and boron doped DLC films have been studied, and mechanisms of the observed current-voltage (I-V) characteristics are investigated. Linear I-V characteristics were observed for Au, Ti, and Zr contacts to both nitrogen and boron doped DLC films. A band structure model for metal-DLC contact is proposed to explain the observed ohmic contacts. Fermi level shifting at the surface of DLC films produces an ohmic resistive layer instead of a Schottky barrier for metal-DLC contacts. Al contacts to both nitrogen and boron doped DLC films show nonlinear I-V characteristics, which are attributed to a dielectric layer of carbide (Al₄C₃) instead of a Schottky barrier suggested by other groups. Inert elements such as Au and Pt, and transition metals such as Ti, Zr and W, which form conductive carbides, are considered good contacting metals for electrical studies of DLC films.     

Structure, adhesive strength and electrochemical performance of nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon thin films deposited via DC magnetron sputtering

Nitrogen doped diamond-like carbon (DLC:N) thin films were deposited on p-Si (100) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering with different nitrogen flow rates at a substrate temperature of about 100 degrees C. The chemical bonding structure of the films was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The adhesive strength and surface morphology of the films were studied using micro-scratch tester and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The electrochemical performance of the films was evaluated by potentiodynamic polarization testing and linear sweep voltammetry. The electrolytes used for the electrochemical tests were deaerated and unstirred 0.47 M KCl aqueous solution for potentiodynamic polarization testing and 0.2 M KOH and 0.1 M KCl solutions for voltammetric analysis. It was found that the DLC:N films could well passivate the underlying substrates though the corrosion resistance of the films decreased with increased nitrogen content in the films. The DLC:N films showed wide potential windows in the KOH solution, in which the detection ability of the DLC:N films to trace lead of about 1 x 10(-3) M Pb(2+) was also tested.     

Electrochemical corrosion behavior of amorphous carbon nitride thin films

The corrosion behavior along with biocompatibility and mechanical properties plays an important role in determining of biomedical implants feasibility. Diamond-like carbon seems to be the promising material in which all these three requirements can be achieved. In this study nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (a-C:N) films were deposited on silicon and medical CoCrMo alloy substrates by vacuum glow discharge sputtering technique using different deposition conditions from graphite target. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were employed to assess the corrosion performances of the films at room temperature in 0.89 wt. % NaCl solution. The influence of substrate bias on the electrochemical corrosion behavior was investigated. The highest value off E_corr for CoCrMo substrate was measured on the coating deposited with substrate bias around −0.6 kV. The shift of E_corr to more positive values was about 350 mV.     

Electrochemical performance of diamond-like carbon thin films

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films used in this study were intended for their electrochemical properties. The DLC films were deposited by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) process on p-type silicon (100) substrates biased at different pulse voltages (0-2000 V). The chemical bonding structures of the DLC films were characterized with micro-Raman spectroscopy and the electrochemical properties were evaluated by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization. The DLC films showed high impedance, high polarization resistance and high breakdown potential in a 0.5 M H₂SO₄ aqueous solution, which were attributed to the high sp³ content and uniformity of the films. The excellent chemical inertness of the DLC films made them promising corrosion resistant coating materials.     

Some electrical properties of diamond-like carbon thin films

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) belongs to very interesting materials used for a number of practical applications. It was noted that the electrical properties of DLC films obtained by RF PCVD discharge depend substantially on the deposition conditions. The results and discussion of the electrical properties of DLC films and DLC/Si heterostructures is presented. The electrical conductivity results are explained in terms of hopping mechanism. The relation between charge transport, structure of the energy gap and the deposition conditions is discussed.     

掺硅类金刚石薄膜的制备及其光学性质研究

利用直流磁控溅射技术在单晶硅和光学玻璃表面制备了掺硅类金刚石薄膜,采用紫外-可见光光谱仪、原子力显微镜、X射线光电子能谱(XPS),荧光光谱仪考察了不同硅含量对类金刚石薄膜的光学透过、表面形貌、电子结构和光学带隙的影响.结果表明,掺硅后的类金刚石薄膜的表面粗糙度先变大后变小,光学带隙变宽,但当掺硅达到一定量时,光学带隙有所降低.随着硅掺入量的增加,薄膜的红外透过率显著提高;光的发射中心"蓝移"并且强度增加.XPS的结果表明薄膜的sp3/sp2的比率随着硅含量的增加而变大.     

Mechanical properties and thermal stability of nitrogen incorporated diamond-like carbon films

The nitrogen incorporated diamond-like carbon films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by arc ion plating (AIP) under different N₂ content in the gas mixture of Ar and N₂. The influence of N₂ content on the film microstructure and mechanical properties was studied by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nanoindentation. It was found that the hardness (H), elastic modulus (E), elastic recovery (R) and plastic resistance parameter (H/E) decrease with increasing the nitrogen content. The decrease of mechanical properties of DLC films resulted from nitrogen incorporation was associated with total sp³ carbon bond content and N-sp³C bond content. The structural modification as well as mechanical properties of the annealed nitrogen incorporated diamond-like carbon films was investigated as a function of annealing temperature. Raman spectra indicate that the I_D/I_G ratio starts to increase and G peak position shifts upward at the annealing temperature over 500 °C. The hardness and elastic modulus of thermally annealed nitrogen incorporated DLC films decreased slightly at lower annealing temperature and then significantly decreased at higher annealing temperature. The strong covalent bonding between C and N atoms is expected to be effective on their thermal stability enhancement.     

P掺杂类金刚石薄膜的制备及生物学行为研究

应用等离子体浸没离子注入与沉积方法合成了磷掺杂的类金刚石(diamond like carbon,DLC)薄膜.结构分析表明磷以微米级岛状结构分散于DLC薄膜表层,P的掺杂增加了DLC薄膜的无序性,俄歇能谱表明岛型区域是由P、C、O三种元素形成的化合物.掺杂表面表现出强烈的亲水性(水接触角为16.9°),体外血小板粘附实验结果显示,P掺杂DLC薄膜表面粘附的血小板少且变形小,表现出的血液相容性优于热解碳和未改性DLC.     

Chemical bonding and optoelectrical properties of ruthenium doped yttrium oxide thin films

Highly infrared transparent conductive ruthenium doped yttrium oxide (RYO) films were deposited on zinc sulfide and glass substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films as a function of growth temperature were studied. It is shown that the sputtered RYO thin films are amorphous and smooth surface is obtained. The infrared transmittance of the films increases with increasing the growth temperature. RYO films maintain greater than ∼65% transmittance over a wide wavelength range from 2.5 μm to 12 μm and the highest transmittance value reaches 73.3% at ∼10 μm. With increasing growth temperature, the resistivity changed in a wide range and lowest resistivity of about 3.36 × 10⁻³ Ω cm is obtained at room temperature. The RYO thin films with high conductivity and transparency in IR spectral range would be suitable for infrared optical and electromagnetic shielding devices.     

Preparation of diamond-like carbon thin films by shielded arc ion plating

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Implantation effect of diamond-like carbon films by 110 keV nitrogen ions

Diamond-like carbon films, grown on microscope slides by a dual-ion beam sputtering system, were implanted by 110 keV N⁺ under the doses of 1 × 10¹⁵, 1 × 10¹⁶ and 1 × 10¹⁷ions cm⁻² respectively. The implantation induced changes in electrical resistivity of the films and in infrared (IR) transmittance of the specimens were investigated as a function of implantation dose. The structural changes of the films were also studied using IR spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. It was observed that, with the increase of implantation dose, the diamond-like carbon films display two different stages in electrical and optical behaviours. The first is the increase of both the film resistivity and the IR transmittance of specimen at the dose of 1 × 10¹⁵ ions cm⁻² which, we consider, is attributed to the implantation-induced increase sp³ C---H bonds. However, when the doses are higher than 1 × 10¹⁵ ions cm⁻², the film resistivity and the IR transmittance of specimen decrea significantly and the decrease rates at dose range of 1×10¹⁶ to 1×10¹⁷ ions cm⁻² are smaller than those between 1×10¹⁵ and 1 × 10¹⁶ ions cm⁻². We conclude that the significant reductions of the two parameters at high doses are caused by the decreases of bond-angle disorder and of sp³ C---H bonds, the increases of sp² C---C bonds dominated the crystallite size and/or number and also the sp² C---H bonds. The smaller decrease rates at a dose range of 1 × 10¹⁶ to 1 × 10¹⁷ ions cm⁻² may be caused by further recombination of some retained hydrogen atoms to carbon atoms.     

硅掺杂类金刚石薄膜微米尺度摩擦性能研究

采用微米级别的AFM球头探针对硅掺杂类金刚石薄膜进行了摩擦实验。研究了微米尺度下,外加载荷和扫描速率对薄膜摩擦性能的影响。考虑粘附的影响,提出了适用于微观低载荷接触摩擦力表征的修正Amonton公式。分析了摩擦系数与表面形貌粗糙峰之间的关系,根据薄膜表面粗糙峰的分布,建立了微米尺度下球头探针与薄膜表面粗糙峰的等效接触模型,并推导出了摩擦力f关于载荷参数(p)和形貌参数()的函数表达式f(p,),表明单位面积接触粗糙峰密度对摩擦力大小起着主导作用。所建接触模型成功解释了摩擦实验现象产生的原因。     

Influence of nitrogen on the optical and mechanical properties of diamond-like carbon films

Optical and mechanical properties of diamond-like carbon films grown by chemical vapor deposition were investigated as a function of the nitrogen content in the gas mixture. The nonmonotonic variation of the optical band gap and the microhardness of the films are interpreted using a model which allows for the influence of nitrogen on their structure. It is shown that nitrogen-containing diamond-like carbon films hold out promise as protective and antireflection coatings for silicon solar cells. Pis’ma Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 24, 87–92 (May 26, 1998)     

Stress relief forms of diamond-like carbon thin films under internal compressive stress

An optical microscope study of the stress relief forms of diamond-like carbon thin films is presented in this paper. The dimensions of the stress relief patterns are shown to be proportional to the film thickness. Three stress relief forms are distinguished. They are analysed in the framework of the linear theory of plate buckling. The forms of the stress relief correspond to two different solutions of the differential equations.     

Evaluation of corrosion resistance of diamond-like carbon films deposited onto AISI 4340 steel

The corrosion resistance of amorphous diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (rf-PECVD) technique on AISI 4340 steel substrates was evaluated under saline (5% NaCl) and acid (1700 ppm H₂SO₄) atmospheres. The corrosion process was investigated by surface characterization and electrochemical methods, such as potentiostatic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). DLC coatings effectively protected the substrate after 48 h in a salt fog chamber and after the first Kesternich cycle. For comparison, under the same conditions, titanium nitride (TiN) coatings did not protect the substrate even for 2 h of saline exposure and even for the first Kesternich cycle. Although the DLC coatings resisted well to the corrosive action of the aggressive media, nucleation and growth of homogenous and micro-sized pinholes uniformly distributed on DLC coatings were observed as a result of the corrosion processes. The observed results suggest that the development of techniques which would reduce the porosity of the DLC films could promote further improvement on their corrosion protection ability.     

Effect of glycine addition on the in-vitro corrosion behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy in Hank's solution

This study reports on the effect of the addition of Glycine to Hank's solution on the in-vitro corrosion behavior of AZ31 magnesium (Mg) alloy at 37 ℃ and a pH of 7.4 studied by using potentiodynamic polarization (PDP),hydrogen collecting techniques and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in combination with surface characterization techniques such as optical microscopy (OM),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS),X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis (XPS).The results reveal that adsorption of glycine initially subdues the dissolution ofAZ31 Mg alloy while in long run it enhances the dissolution of the alloy due to the commencement of the chelation effect ofglycine with Ca2+ released from hydroxyapatite.The chelation ofglycine with Ca2+induces the formation of cracks in the surface film which further promotes the dissolution ofAZ31 Mg alloy thereby forming a porous corrosion products layer on the surface of the alloy.As a result,both the continuous dissolution of AZ31 magnesium alloy and the hydrogen evolution rate (HER) are enhanced with increasing the immersion time in Hank's solution.     

Investigation of the properties of diamond-like carbon thin films deposited by single and dual-mode plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

In this study diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were deposited by a dual-mode (radio frequency/microwave) reactor. A mixture of hydrogen and methane was used for deposition of DLC films. The film structure, thickness, roughness, refractive index of the films and plasma elements were investigated as a function of the radio frequency (RF) and microwave (MW) power, gas ratio and substrate substance. It was shown that by increasing the H₂ content, the refractive index grows to 2.63, the growth rate decreases to 10 (nm/min) and the surface roughness drops to 0.824 nm. Taking into consideration the RF power it was found that, as the power increases, the growth rate increases to 11.6 (nm/min), the variations of the refractive index and the roughness were continuously increasing, up to a certain limit of RF power. The Raman G-band peak position was less dependent on RF power for the glass substrate than that of the Si substrate and a converse tendency exists with increasing the hydrogen content. Adding MW plasma to the RF discharge (dual-mode) leads to an increase of the thickness and roughness of the films, which is attributed to the density enhancement of ions and radicals. Also, optical emission spectroscopy is used to study the plasma elements.