Substrate Bias Voltage Tailoring the Interfacial Chemistry of a-SiC

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films (a-C:H) have attracted much attention because of their surprising properties, including ultralow friction coefficients in specific conditions. Adhesion of a-C:H films on ferrous alloys is poor due to chemical and physical aspects, avoiding a widespread application of such a film. One possibility to overcome this drawback is depositing an interlayer-an intermediate thin film-between the carbon-based coating and the substrate to improve chemical interaction and adhesion. Based on this, interlayers play a key role on a-C:H thin-film adhesion through a better chemical network structure at the outermost layer of the a-SiC