Deposition of a-C:H films on large-area plane dielectric substrates by means of pulsed surface discharge at atmospheric pressure

A new-developed method for deposition of amorphous hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (a-C:H) films on plate dielectric substrates by means of pulsed surface (gliding) discharge at atmospheric pressure is presented here. It was found that films properties are influenced mainly by pulse volume energy density and, in less extent, by average surface power density of discharge, with optimum at about 75 J/cm/sup 3/ and 2-3 W/cm/sup 2/ correspondingly. Diamond-like films deposited from methane under these conditions are similar to those obtained by traditional low-pressure (p<10 Torr) methods of chemical vapour deposition, but the equipment for a-C:H film deposition in the surface discharges is much simpler and cheaper than the vacuum systems with various types of plasma generator conventionally used for this purpose. To demonstrate technological potential of the proposed method set-up for deposition of a-C:H films on flat dielectric substrates of 20/spl times/50 cm/sup 2/ was created.