Abstract

Various DLC-SiO₂ nanocomposite films were deposited on silicon and quartz substrates maintained at 25 °C in a capacitively coupled, 13.56 MHz powered, asymmetric plasma reactor using styrene and tetraethoxysilane as the source gases, and hydrogen as a carrier gas. High deposition rate (14.3 Å/s) was achieved due to the 8 carbon atoms in styrene. The films have relatively low intrinsic stress, thus it was possible to deposit thicker films (5 µm). The film’s Knoop microhardness and optical transparency in the visible region were comparable to those of DLC.