Investigation of ion-beam-assisted deposition of DLC films by molecular dynamics simulation

In this paper, the growth of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films via ion-beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) is simulated using molecular dynamical simulation. The C2 molecules and Ar ions are selected as deposition and assistance projectiles, respectively. The impact energy of Ar ranges from 10, 30, 50 to 100 eV. We focus our examination on the effects of the assistance/deposition atomic ratio and the incident energy of Ar ions on the growth dynamics and film structure. Simulation results show that the mobility of surface atoms in the cascade region is enhanced by impacting energetic Ar ions, especially at elevated flux and moderate energy, which favor the growth of denser and smoother films with better adhesion to the substrate. Our results agree well with the experimental observation.