• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.88-88
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• 2018

DLC(Diamond Like Carbon) 박막은 높은 열전도도, 큰 전기저항, 높은 강도 등의 다이아몬드와 유사한 특성을 가지고 있으면서 저온 저압에서도 합성이 가능하고, 합성 조건에 따라 물리 화학적 특성도 넓게 조절 할 수 있으며 상대적으로 넓은 면적에서 균일하고 평활한 박막의 합성이 가능하여 산업적 응용 면에서도 경쟁력을 갖추고 있다[1]. 이러한 DLC 박막을 합성함에 있어서 RF-PECVD(Radio Frequency Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) 방법은 PECVD 방법 중 가장 보편적으로 사용되고 또 캐패시터 타입의 RF-PECVD 방법은 균일한 대면적 증착과 대량생산이 가능하다[1,2]. 본 연구에서는 우수한 특성을 갖는 DLC 박막의 증착 조건을 찾기 위해 캐패시터 타입의 RF-PECVD를 사용하여 공정 가스의 유량과 RF Power를 변화하여 박막을 증착하고, 증착된 박막의 특성을 연구하였다. DLC 박막은 ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) 유리 기판 위에 $100^{\circ}C$에서 5 min 동안 아세틸렌($C_2H_2$) 가스를 사용하여 가스 유량과 RF Power를 변화하여 증착하였다. 증착된 DLC 박막의 특성은 투과도, 평탄도, 두께를 측정하여 비교하였다. 가시광선 영역(380-780 nm)에서 투과도를 측정한 결과 ITO 유리 기판을 기준으로 한 DLC 박막의 투과도는 가시광선 영역 평균 94.8~98.8% 사이의 값으로 매우 높은 투과율을 나타내었다. 투과도는 가스 유량이 증가함에 따라 증가하는 경향을 나타내었고, RF Power의 변화에는 특정한 변화를 나타내지 않았다. 박막의 평탄도($R_a$, $R_{rms}$)와 두께는 AFM(Atomic Force Microscope)을 사용하여 측정하였다. 평탄도 $R_{rms}$는 0.8~3.3 nm, $R_a$는 0.6~2.5 nm 사이를 나타내었고 RF Power와 가스 유량의 변화에 따른 경향성을 나타내지는 않았다. 두께는 RF Power 25 W에서 55 W로 증가함에 따라 증가하는 경향을 나타내었으나 70W에서는 가스의 유량에 따라 상이한 결과를 나타내었다.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.179-185
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• 2009

Diamond-like carbon(DLC) films were deposited by linear ion source(LIS)-physical vapor deposition method changing the anode voltages from 800 V to 1800 V, and characteristics of the films were investigated using residual stress tester, nano-indentation, micro raman spectroscopy, scratch tester and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope(FE-SEM). The results showed that the residual stress and hardness increased with increasing the ion energy up to anode voltage of 1400 V. It was also found that the content of $SP^3$ carbon increased with increasing the anode voltage $SP^3/SP^2$ ratio through investigation of $SP^3/SP^2$ ratio by the micro-raman analysis. From these results, it can be concluded that the physical properties of DLC films such as residual stress and hardness are increased with increasing the anode voltage. These results can be explained that 3-dimensional cross-links between carbon atoms and Dangling bond are enhanced and the internal compressive stress also increased with increasing the anode voltage. The optimal anode voltage is considered to be around 1400 V in these experimental conditions.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.738-747
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• 2006

The friction behaviour of Si-wafer, diamond-like carbon (DLC) and two self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) namely dimethyldichlorosilane (DMDC) and diphenyl-dichlorosilane (DPDC) coated on Si-wafer was studied under loading conditions in milli-newton (mN) range. Experiments were performed using a ball-on-flat type reciprocating micro-tribo tester. Glass balls with various radii 0.25 mm, 0.5 mm and 1 mm were used. The applied normal load was in the range of 1.5 mN to 4.8 mN. Results showed that the friction increased with the applied normal load in the case of all the test materials. It was also observed that friction was affected by the ball size. Friction increased with the increase in the ball size in the case of Si-wafer. The SAMs also showed a similar trend, but had lower values of friction than those of Si-wafer In-terestingly, for DLC it was observed that friction decreased with the increase in the ball size. This distinct difference in the behavior of friction in DLC was attributed to the difference in the operating mechanism. It was observed that Si-wafer and DLC exhibited wear, whereas wear was absent in the SAMs. Observations showed that solid-solid adhesion was dominant in Si-wafer, while plowing in DLC. The wear in these two materials significantly Influenced their friction. In the case of SAMs their friction behaviour was largely influenced by the nature of their molecular chains.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.86-91
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• 1999

We have fabricated high-$\textrm{T}_c$ superconducting $\textrm{YBa}_{2}\textrm{Cu}_{3}\textrm{O}_{7-x}$(YBCO) grain boundary junctions at a step-edge on (001) $\textrm{SrTiO}_3$(STO) substrates. A diamond-like carbon (DLC) film grown by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition were used as an ion milling mask to make steps on the STO (100) single crystal and was removed by an oxygen reactive ion etch process. The c-axis oriented YBCO and TO thin films were deposited epitaxially on the STO substrate with a step-edge by pulsed laser deposition. The grain boundary junctions were formed at the top and the bottom of the step. The junctions worked at temperatures above 77 K, and had I\ulcornerR\ulcorner products of 7.5mV at 16K and 0.3 mV at 77K, respectively. The I-V characteristics of these junctions showed the shape of the two noisy resistively shunted junction model.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.128-135
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• 1995

Atomic force microscopy/friction force microscopy (AFM/FFM) techniques are increasingly used for tribological studies of engineering surfaces at scales, ranging from atomic and molecular to microscales. These techniques have been used to study surface roughness, adhesion, friction, scratching/wear, indentation, detection of material transfer, and boundary lubrication and for nanofabrication/nanomachining purposes. Micro/nanotribological studies of single-crystal silicon, natural diamond, magnetic media (magnetic tapes and disks) and magnetic heads have been conducted. Commonly measured roughness parameters are found to be scale dependent, requiring the need of scale-independent fractal parameters to characterize surface roughness. Measurements of atomic-scale friction of a freshly-cleaved highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite exhibited the same periodicity as that of corresponding topography. However, the peaks in friction and those in corresponding topography were displaced relative to each other. Variations in atomic-scale friction and the observed displacement has been explained by the variations in interatomic forces in the normal and lateral directions. Local variation in microscale friction is found to correspond to the local slope suggesting that a ratchet mechanism is responsible for this variation. Directionality in the friction is observed on both micro- and macro scales which results from the surface preparation and anisotropy in surface roughness. Microscale friction is generally found to be smaller than the macrofriction as there is less ploughing contribution in microscale measurements. Microscale friction is load dependent and friction values increase with an increase in the normal load approaching to the macrofriction at contact stresses higher than the hardness of the softer material. Wear rate for single-crystal silicon is approximately constant for various loads and test durations. However, for magnetic disks with a multilayered thin-film structure, the wear of the diamond like carbon overcoat is catastrophic. Breakdown of thin films can be detected with AFM. Evolution of the wear has also been studied using AFM. Wear is found to be initiated at nono scratches. AFM has been modified to obtain load-displacement curves and for nanoindentation hardness measurements with depth of indentation as low as 1 mm. Scratching and indentation on nanoscales are the powerful ways to screen for adhesion and resistance to deformation of ultrathin fdms. Detection of material transfer on a nanoscale is possible with AFM. Boundary lubrication studies and measurement of lubricant-film thichness with a lateral resolution on a nanoscale have been conducted using AFM. Self-assembled monolyers and chemically-bonded lubricant films with a mobile fraction are superior in wear resistance. Finally, AFM has also shown to be useful for nanofabrication/nanomachining. Friction and wear on micro-and nanoscales have been found to be generally smaller compared to that at macroscales. Therefore, micro/nanotribological studies may help def'me the regimes for ultra-low friction and near zero wear.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.705-710
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• 2015

The fabrication process of thin boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond (B-NCD) microelectrodes on fused silica single mode optical fiber cladding has been investigated. The B-NCD films were deposited on the fibers using Microwave Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (MW PA CVD) at glass substrate temperature of 475 ℃. We have obtained homogenous, continuous and polycrystalline surface morphology with high sp³ content in B-NCD films and mean grain size in the range of 100-250 nm. The films deposited on the glass reference samples exhibit high refractive index (n=2.05 at λ=550 nm) and low extinction coefficient. Furthermore, cyclic voltammograms (CV) were recorded to determine the electrochemical window and reaction reversibility at the B-NCD fiber-based electrode. CV measurements in aqueous media consisting of 5 mM K₃[Fe(CN)₆] in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ demonstrated a width of the electrochemical window up to 1.03 V and relatively fast kinetics expressed by a redox peak splitting below 500 mV. Moreover, thanks to high-n B-NCD overlay, the coated fibers can be also used for enhancing the sensitivity of long-period gratings (LPGs) induced in the fiber. The LPG is capable of measuring variations in refractive index of the surrounding liquid by tracing the shift in resonance appearing in the transmitted spectrum. Possible combined CV and LPG-based measurements are discussed in this work.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.111-112
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• 2009

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is a convenient term to indicate the compositions of the various forms of amorphous carbon (a-C), tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C), hydrogenated amorphous carbon and tetrahedral amorphous carbon (a-C:H and ta-C:H). The a-C film with disordered graphitic ordering, such as soot, chars, glassy carbon, and evaporated a-C, is shown in the lower left hand corner. If the fraction of sp3 bonding reaches a high degree, such an a-C is denoted as tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C), in order to distinguish it from sp2 a-C [2]. Two hydrocarbon polymers, that is, polyethylene (CH2)n and polyacetylene (CH)n, define the limits of the triangle in the right hand corner beyond which interconnecting C-C networks do not form, and only strait-chain molecules are formed. The DLC films, i.e. a-C, ta-C, a-C:H and ta-C:H, have some extreme properties similar to diamond, such as hardness, elastic modulus and chemical inertness. These films are great advantages for many applications. One of the most important applications of the carbon-based films is the coating for magnetic hard disk recording. The second successful application is wear protective and antireflective films for IR windows. The third application is wear protection of bearings and sliding friction parts. The fourth is precision gages for the automotive industry. Recently, exciting ongoing study [1] tries to deposit a carbon-based protective film on engine parts (e.g. engine cylinders and pistons) taking into account not only low friction and wear, but also self lubricating properties. Reduction of the oil consumption is expected. Currently, for an additional application field, the carbon-based films are extensively studied as excellent candidates for biocompatible films on biomedical implants. The carbon-based films consist of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, which are biologically harmless as well as the main elements of human body. Some in vitro and limited in vivo studies on the biological effects of carbon-based films have been studied [$2{\sim}5$].The carbon-based films have great potentials in many fields. However, a few technological issues for carbon-based film are still needed to be studied to improve the applicability. Aisenberg and Chabot [3] firstly prepared an amorphous carbon film on substrates remained at room temperature using a beam of carbon ions produced using argon plasma. Spencer et al. [4] had subsequently developed this field. Many deposition techniques for DLC films have been developed to increase the fraction of sp3 bonding in the films. The a-C films have been prepared by a variety of deposition methods such as ion plating, DC or RF sputtering, RF or DC plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD), electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapor deposition (ECR-CVD), ion implantation, ablation, pulsed laser deposition and cathodic arc deposition, from a variety of carbon target or gaseous sources materials [5]. Sputtering is the most common deposition method for a-C film. Deposited films by these plasma methods, such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) [6], are ranged into the interior of the triangle. Application fields of DLC films investigated from papers. Many papers purposed to apply for tribology due to the carbon-based films of low friction and wear resistance. Figure 1 shows the percentage of DLC research interest for application field. The biggest portion is tribology field. It is occupied 57%. Second, biomedical field hold 14%. Nowadays, biomedical field is took notice in many countries and significantly increased the research papers. DLC films actually applied to many industries in 2005 as shown figure 2. The most applied fields are mold and machinery industries. It took over 50%. The automobile industry is more and more increase application parts. In the near future, automobile industry is expected a big market for DLC coating. Figure 1 Research interests of carbon-based filmsFigure 2 Demand ratio of DLC coating for industry in 2005. In this presentation, I will introduce a trend of carbon-based coating research and applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.429-429
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• 2007

For various applications of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), the uniform alignment of liquid crystal (LC) molecules on treated surfaces is significantly important. Generally, a rubbing method has been widely used to align the LC molecules on polyimide (PI) surfaces. Rubbed PI surfaces have suitable characteristics, such as uniform alignment. However, the rubbing method has some drawbacks, such as the generation of electrostatic charges and the creation of contaminating particles. Thus, we strongly recommend a non contact alignment technique for future generations of large high-resolution LCDs. Most recently, the LC aligning capabilities achieved by ultraviolet and ion-beam exposures which are non contact methods, on diamond-like carbon (DLC) inorganic thin film layers have been successfully studied because DLC thin films have a high mechanical hardness, a high electrical resistivity, optical transparency, and chemical inertness. In addition, nitrogen-doped DLC (NDLC) thin films exhibit properties similar to those of the DLC thin films and a higher thermal stability than the DLC thin films because C:N bonding in the NDLC thin filmsis stronger against thermal stress than C:H bonding in the DLC thin films. Our research group has already studied the NDLC thin films by an ion-beam alignment method. The $SiN_x$ thin films deposited by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition are widely used as an insulation layer for a thin film transistor, which has characteristics similar to those of DLC inorganic thin films. Therefore, in this paper, we report on LC alignment effects and pretilt angle generation on a $SiN_x$, thin film treated by ion-beam irradiation for various N ratios

• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.129-134
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• 2007

Boron nitride (BN) is a highly attractive material for wear resistant applications of mechanical components. BN is super hard and it is the second hardest of all known materials. It also has a high thermal stability, high abrasive wear resistance, and in contrast to diamond, BN does not react with ferrous materials. The motivation of this work is to investigate the tribological properties of BN for potential applications in ultra-precision components for data storage, printing, and other precision devices. In this work, the wear characteristics of BN thin films deposited on DLC or Ti buffer layer with silicon substrate using RF-magnetron sputtering technique were analyzed. Wear tests were conducted by using a pin-on-disk type tester and the wear tracks were measured with a surface profiler. Experimental results showed that wear characteristics were dependent on the sputtering conditions and buffer layer. Particularly, BN coated on DLC layer showed better wear resistant behavior. The range of the wear rates for the BN films tested in this work was about 20 to $100{\mu}m^3$/cycle.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10b
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• pp.159-160
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• 2002

To investigate the humidity effect on tribological behaviors of Si-DLC/DLC multi-layers, the samples were prepared using a system consisted of an ion-gun for deposition DLC films and a balanced magnetron sputter for introducing silicon atoms to Si-DLC films. The Si-DLC/DLC multi-layers were composed of pure DLC films and Si-incorporated DLC films alternatively and had different bilayer numbers. Hardness and residual stress were drastically decreased through the formation of Si-DLC/DLC multi-layers compared to those of the pure and Si-incorporated DLC films. Wear results obtained under the various humidity conditions (<10%, $40{\sim}50%$, and >85%) showed that the pure DLC film was largely depended on the humidity while the Si-DLC and the Si-DLC/DLC multi-layers were little affected by the environmental humidity. Although friction coefficients of all samples were increased with the relative humidity, the multi-layer films showed relatively lower friction coefficients that those of the single films.