Study of DLC Formation with Ion-Beam Assisted Magnetron Sputtering Deposition

TiC-containing DLC films are deposited by magnetron sputtering by means of ion beam deposition using acetylene as carbon source. The deposition rate of the films is three times as fast as that by ion beam deposition alone. The minimum roughness is 2.2 nm and the highest hardness is 11.97 GPa for the synthesized DLC films. The effects of ion beam voltage and deposition temperature on the composition, microstructures, and surface states are studied using infrared spectroscopy, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and AFM. Mechanical properties of the DLC films from nanoindentation tests are analyzed with the variation of H and TiC, as well as content of sp3 bonds.