Rapid growth of diamond-like-carbon films by copper vapor laser ablation

摘要

Visible light from a copper vapor laser (CVL) operating with 510 and 578 nm radiation (intensity ratio approximately 2:1), an average power of 100 W, a pulse duration of 50 ns, and a repetition frequency of 4.4 kHz has been shown to produce high quality diamond-like-carbon (DLC) films at fluences between 2x10(sup 8) and 5x10(sup 10) W/cm(sup 2). Maximum deposition rates of 2000 (mu)m(center dot)cm(sup 2)/h were obtained at 5x10(sup 8) W/cm(sup 2). DLC films with hardness values of approximately 60 GPa were characterized by a variety of techniques to confirm DLC character, hydrogen content, and surface morphology. The presence of C(sub 2) in the vapor plume was confirmed by the presence of the C(sub 2) Swan bands in emission spectra obtained during the process. Economic implications of process scale-up to industrially meaningful component sizes are presented.