Amorphic diamond material produced by laser plasma deposition
AssigneeBoard of Regents, The University of Texas System
InventorsCarl B. Collins, Farzin Davanloo
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Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for producing amorphic or ultra fine-grained, diamond-like material on a substrate. Uniform, high quality dehydrogenated diamond-like material is produced when a hardened target material is used and/or when a laser beam strikes the target at non-perpendicular angles of incidence. Also, selective placement of particles upon a substrate as well as simultaneous cleaning of the substrate is achieved by a secondary electrode placed within the laser beam path of travel between a first electrode and the substrate.
Claims6
A method of producing a layer of dehydrogenated diamond-like film having both amorphous and microcrystalline atomic structures, comprising the steps of:
- positioning a moving sheet of hardened graphite foil in a vacuum chamber;
- evacuating the chamber;
- providing a laser beam;
- focusing said laser beam at a non-perpendicular angle upon said graphite foil to obtain a plume of ions;
- positioning a substrate in said chamber;
- directing said plume toward said substrate;
- and
- collecting a portion of said plume at selective points upon said substrate at a deposition rate greater than about 0.5 microns per hour, as a layer of said dehydrogenated diamond-like film substantially void of macroscopic particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.