From diamond-like carbon to diamond coatings

• Published in: Thin solid films 1987-10, Vol.153 (1), p.1-9
• Main Authors: Messier, R., Badzian, A.R., Badzian, T., Spear, K.E., Bachmann, P., Roy, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/0040-6090(87)90164-7

Carbon films deposited by pyrolytic and plasma-activated deposition from hydrocarbon-containing gases encompass a virtual infinity of compositions (hydrogen concentrations) and structures (from amorphous to single crystal and with variable amounts of sp 1, sp 2 and sp 3 bonding). Coatings which have a high degree of sp 3 bonding generally have properties, especially hardness, close to those of single- crystal diamond and are often referred to as diamond-like carbon. Recently, large grain size diamond crystals and continuous diamond coatings have been prepared by plasma chemical vapor deposition methods. Although such materials are different from the diamond-like carbon class of materials, there is clearly a continuum of materials which is expected to lead to vagueness and confusion in nomenclature. In this paper, such issues are dealt with and a working definition of “diamond” coatings is offered.