A study of very thin DLC foils as a gas barrier

Measurements of vacuum tightness and mechanical strength of diamond-like carbon (DLC) foils in the thickness range of 1–7 μg cm−2 have been performed with a purpose to evaluate suitability of foils as a gas barrier. Hydrogen and argon at pressures from 10−2 Pa to 20 kPa were used as test gases. The permeation rate specified as conductance density was found for the best sample of self-supporting foil to be around 1.5×10−3 l and 3.3×10−4 l s−1 cm−2 for H2 and Ar, respectively. Conductance density of the same foils mounted on the frames with a mesh along the apertures as support was about twice higher than that for the self-supporting ones, likely due to the mechanical imperfections of the foil assemblies of the first ones. On the other hand, mesh-supported foils as thin as 3 μg cm−2 and of 5 mm in diameter were withstanding the pressure of up to 18 kPa, while self-supporting foils of the same thickness ruptured at around 1.2 kPa. There was no observed relation between thickness of the foil and its mechanical properties and permeation rate. This suggests that rather tears and pinholes present in foils are the limiting factors of the foil–vacuum tightness and strength. Results obtained in the studies, presented in this work, demonstrate the ability of very thin DLC to isolate a high vacuum beam line from a gas cell in a variety of applications and ability to withstand the gas pressure relevant, in particular, to some gas-filled ionization chambers.