Dynamics of Pulsed DC Discharges Used for PACVD of a-C:H:Si

Although a-C:H:Si is insulating, high quality a-C:H:Si coatings can be deposited by pulsed DC PACVD at moderate temperatures. In order to understand these results the discharge was investigated by different methods with microsecond resolution. It turned out that for a proper selection of the operation parameters the discharge conditions, as expressed in discharge current, total plasma light emission and discharge distribution, remain constant during most of the voltage pulse and also during an entire deposition run, thus enabling the afore mentioned good properties of a-C:H:Si coatings.