Deposition of carbon based-materials by continuous and pulsed discharges

This review surveys the recent developments in the plasma deposition of polycrystalline diamond (PCD) films from highly diluted (1% CH4 in H-2) gas mixture and superhydrophobic fluorocarbon films from C2F4 gas. Specifically, the pulsed plasmas are also used and examined at different duty cycles and pulse periods. Emphasis is given to the role of pulsed plasmas with respect to continuous ones in controlling the gas surface interaction and the growth chemistry and in determining the material properties. The obtained materials have been characterised using a wide range of methods: scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, spectroscopic ellipsometry, water contact angle, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Power modulation affects the PCD film morphology but deteriorates their optical and structural properties: the refractive index and the quality factor of continuous films are better than pulsed ones. As for fluorocarbon films, the control of both the plasma phase and the film deposited is improved under pulsed conditions. The pulsed plasmas, contrary to the continuous ones, allow to tune the CF2 growth precursor and correspondingly the composition, structure and morphology of the film, exhibiting a superwater repellent surface with contact angles of up to 170 degrees.