Arc discharge plasma CVD method for forming diamond-like carbon films
AssigneeSanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
InventorsKeiichi Kuramoto, Hitoshi Hirano, Yoichi Domoto, Seiichi Kiyama
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Abstract
A method of forming a diamond-like carbon film on a substrate arranged in a vacuum chamber includes the steps of generating an arc-discharge plasma current in the vacuum chamber, supplying a reaction gas containing carbon atoms, such as CH.sub.4 gas for example, into the arc-discharge plasma current, applying a high-frequency voltage to the substrate so that a self-bias developed in the substrate is not more than -200 V, and forming a diamond-like carbon film from the reaction gas on the substrate that is supplied with the high-frequency voltage.
Claims20
A method of forming a diamond-like carbon film on a substrate arranged in a vacuum chamber, said method comprising the steps of:
- generating an arc-discharge plasma current comprising applying a d.c. discharge voltage between a cathode and an anode in said vacuum chamber;
- supplying a reaction gas containing carbon atoms into said arc-discharge plasma current;
- applying a high-frequency voltage to said substrate so that said substrate develops a self-bias that is not more than -200 V;
- and
- forming said diamond-like carbon film from said reaction gas on said substrate to which said high-frequency voltage is applied;
- wherein said d.c. discharge voltage is controlled so as to control the hardness of said diamond-like carbon film to be formed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.