Diamond-like carbon film preparation using a high-repetition nanosecond pulsed glow discharge plasma at gas pressure of 1 kPa generated by a SiC-MOSFET inverter power supply

A high-repetition nanosecond pulsed glow discharge plasma at a gas pressure of 1 kPa was generated using a SiC-MOSFET inverter power supply for diamond-like carbon (DLC) film preparation. At a high repetition frequency above 50 kHz, the period of the nanosecond voltage pulse became shorter than the decay time of the afterglow plasma, and many ions and radicals remained in the gap space. The deposition rate was 0.1 µm/min, which was 5 times higher than that of a conventional plasma CVD process. An increase in hardness to 13 GPa and a decrease in hydrogen content in the DLC film were confirmed by increasing the repetition frequency to 200 kHz.