Method of depositing diamond-like carbon film onto a substrate having a low melting temperature

摘要

A diamond-like carbon film is deposited on an insulating substrate using a solid carbon source evaporated by an electron beam so as to maintain the substrate temperature below about 150 DEG C. in a differentially evacuated chamber containing a selective etchant gas such as hydrogen. In orer to bombard the substrate with positively charged ions while preventing accumulation of a repulsive surface charge, a radio frequency (RF) electric field is applied to a rotating fixture holding the substrate. The differentially evacuated chamber maintains the atmospheric pressure around the solid carbon source at one end of the chamber at a sufficiently low pressure to prevent loss of electron beam energy and thereby enable vaporization of the carbon while maintaining the substrate at the other end of the chamber at a higher pressure which enables the RF electric field to excite an ion gas plasma around the substrate and thereby facilitate deposition of the diamond-like carbon film. In the preferred embodiment, the differentially evacuated chamber has a bypass manifold connected between the two ends of the chamber. A control system responding to pressure sensing apparatus inside the chamber governs the position of a butterfly valve in the bypass manifold to regulate the differential pressure in the chamber. In order to keep the substrate temperature below about 150 DEG , the rotating fixture holding the substrate is water-cooled.