DIAMOND AND DIAMOND-LIKE CARBON COATINGS

The historical developments and the current status of the field of Diamond, Diamond-Like-Carbon and Carbonitride Coatings have been discussed highlighting specific important results. This is followed by the presentation and detailed discussion of the results obtained by the authors in their studies on growth and characterisation of diamond films deposited by Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition (HFCVD) method and the diamond-like-carbon (DLC) and carbonitride (C-N) films deposited by the ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) method. In the context of growth. the issue of the dependence of film quality on the substrate and barrier layer have been dealt with. In so far as the characterisation is concerned the results of Raman and Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM) are presented and analysed. Results of wear tests on DLC films coated on float glass specimen are also presented. The difficulties encountered in realising high quality DLC films with good mechanical properties have been analysed and possible solutions are discussed.