SWISSIMPIANTI Sagl

Diamond coatings of Diamond-like Carbon (DLC)

• Reduce friction.

• Reduce wear.

• Are made from graphite and energy.

• Are made without toxic byproducts or harmful waste.

• Can be deposited on almost anything that can be put in a vacuum.

 

Why Pulse ?

• Pulses are countable.

• Peak power can be orders of magnitude above DC value.

• Obtaining new parameters for process control such as pulse width, pulse frequency, pulse number and ion energy range to obtain different film microstructures.

• As a pure metal ion implantation ion source when operated with high voltage pulse bias

• Higher arc discharge voltage and current induce higher ionization rate.

• Lower cathode temperature reduce of macro particle production.

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DLC films are generally amorphous (i.e have no dominant crystalline lattice structure) and consist of a mixture of sp2 (graphite) & sp3 (diamond) phases.  Control of film properties is strongly dependent on the flux characteristics of the chosen deposition technique (PVD sputter or evaporation and Pa-CVD), metal and hydrogen content within the film, sp2:sp3 ratio, substrate bias voltage, ion energy and ion density as well as substrate temperature.  DLC film friction coefficient against steel generally ranges from 0.05-0.20, whilst film hardness and sp3 content can be tailored for specific applications. Metal and hydrogen containing DLC (Me-DLC or a-C:H:Me) exhibit hardness in the range 500-2000HV with 35% sp3, metal free DLC (C-DLC or a-C:H) typically 1500-4000HV

and up to 75% sp3 , whilst

tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C)

can be 4000-9000HV with 80-85% sp3.

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