Adhesion studies of diamond-like carbon films deposited on Ti6Al4V substrate with a silicon interlayer

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have proven quite advantageous in many tribological applications due to their low friction coefficient, their extreme hardness, and more recently their high adherence on different substrate materials. However, for many applications, DLC films as thick as 2 μm are required, which cause high residual stress. In order to overcome this problem, this study observed the behavior of different thicknesses of silicon interlayer between DLC films and Ti6Al4V substrates. The study also analyzed the relation of growth parameters to the mechanical properties of DLC films. Silicon and DLC films were grown by using a rf-PECVD at 13.56 MHz with silane and methane atmospheres, respectively. The contribution of an interlayer thickness to the adhesion between the DLC films and Ti6Al4V substrate was evaluated by using a micro-scratch technique. The hardness and friction coefficient were evaluated by using microindentation and lateral force microscopy (LFM), respectively. Raman scattering spectroscopy was used to characterize the film quality. A correlation was found between the intrinsic stress and adhesion of DLC film and the parameters of the silicon interlayer growth. The addition of a silicon interlayer successfully reduced intrinsic stress of the films, even as measured by using a perfilometry technique.