Development of nano-scale surface treatment system using vacuum vapor deposition technique

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Ultrathin organic films with thickness on the order of monolayers have been a subject of great interest as boundary lubricant films in the fields of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), nanoimprint and magnetic storage devices. The alkylsilane self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) or perfluoropolyethers (PFPE) with reactive end groups are examples that have been used for such a purpose. To obtain an adequate lifetime of a solid surface, organic silane or PFPE molecules should be strongly adsorbed on the solid surfaces. The adsorption properties of the organic molecules on the solid surfaces depend on the areal density of adsorption sites on the solid surfaces. On the other hand, diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have attracted much interest in the past three decades due to their high hardness, chemical inertness, extremely low friction and high wear resistance. Generally, organic thin films are deposited on DLC surfaces using dip coating or immersion methods in the atmosphere, which use sol … More utions containing the target lubricant molecules. The exposure of freshly deposited carbon films to the atmosphere is undesirable because the main adsorption sites of the lubricant molecules such as dangling bonds are reduced owing to surface oxidation and contamination. In vacuum vapor deposition, the deposition of carbon films and the fixing of lubricant molecules on the deposited carbon surfaces can be accomplished in a vacuum. In the present study, the surface oxidation and contamination of the freshly deposited carbon surfaces could be avoided, and strong lubricant bonding could be achieved by using the vacuum vapor deposition process. The structure and chemical composition of DLC films can be modified by the incorporation of elements such as F, N, O, Si and some metals into the carbon films. Since the surface chemistry and structure of these carbon films differ, the bonding characteristics of the organic lubricant molecules to the carbon surfaces would be changed. In this study, we described the adsorption properties of organic molecules having a hydroxyl end group to various carbon films such as DLC (a-C:H), N-DLC (a-C:H:N) and Si-DLC (a-C:H:Si). We found that the addition of N and Si enhanced the adsorption properties of organic molecules to the DLC surfaces by changing the surface structure and chemistry of the DLC surfaces. Less