Pii: S0040-6090(99)00484-8

A magnetically enhanced plasma chemical vapor deposition (MEPCVD) system has been developed for the deposition of DLC ®lm without deterioration of the ®lm quality. A perpendicular magnetic ®eld (B) to the electric ®eld was applied in the RF capacitively coupled plasma enhanced (PE) CVD system. Signi®cantly higher levels of ionization are achieved in the MEPCVD system, resulting in much lower self-bias voltage and higher deposition rate. The deposition rate of DLC ®lm can be increased by about one order of magnitude (B at 200 Gauss) by MEPCVD, comparing with the non-magnetic ®eld case. The properties of the DLC ®lm deposited by MEPCVD system were also improved; there is a higher hardness and Young's modulus, and lower surface roughness, compared with that of the DLC ®lm deposited by the conventional PECVD system. q 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.