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Substrate Bias Effects on Plasma CVD Films |
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a-Si(1-x)C(x):H films were synthesised by RF plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition from methane-silane mixtures.
The NanoTest was used to determine the hardness and Young's modulus of the films. The initial load was 0.05 mN, the loading rate was 0.5 mN.(s-1), and the maximum (on-load) depth was 300 nm. In addition, the maximum load was held constant for 10 s to eliminate time-dependent effects. A Berkovitch indenter was used.
The hardness and Young's modulus values (courtesy of J. Meneve) are average values obtained from 10 indentations. The average Depth vs. Load hysteresis curves are shown below. The mechanical properties of the films deposited with -300 V bias were consistently superior to those of the films prepared with -500 V bias. This was found to correlate with wear resistance results obtained from ball-on-disk tests; under humid nitrogen conditions, the films deposited with -300 V bias exhibited improved wear resistance. |
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| Averaged Depth vs. Load hysteresis curves from a-Si(1-x)C(x):H films. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||