Ultrathin diamondlike carbon films deposited by filtered carbonvacuum arcs

摘要

Ultrathin (<5 nm) hard carbon films are of great interest tothe magnetic storage industry as the areal density approaches 100 Gb/in². These films can be used as overcoats to protect themagnetic layer. Tetrahedrally bonded amorphous carbon (ta-C) films canbe produced by filtered cathodic arc deposition, however, these filmswill be accepted by the storage industry only if the“macroparticle” issue can be solved. Better plasma filtershave been developed. Emphasis is put on the promising Twist Filtersystem, a compact, open-architecture structure that operates with veryhigh current (>1 kA) in a pulsed mode. Macroparticle elimination isvirtually achieved while plasma throughput is very high. Ultrathin ta-Cfilms have been synthesized using S-filter and Twist Filter systems.Film properties such as hardness, elastic modulus, wear and corrosionresistance have been tested