THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEPOSITIONING HARD DIAMOND LIKE CARBON COATINGS ON SURFACES OF OPTICAL ELEMENTS.

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF DEPOSITIONING HARD DIAMOND LIKE CARBON COATINGS ON SURFACES OF OPTICAL ELEMENTS.IT IS RECOGNIZED THAT THIS PROTECTIVE LAYER DEVELOPED MUST BY CORROSION AND EROSION RESISTANT AND IT MUST BE OPTICALLY TRANSPARENT FROM UV AND IR WAVELENGTHS. FOR REASONS DESCRIBED IN THIS PROPOSAL, THE USE OF A RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) PLASMA DISCHARGE SYSTEM APPEARS TO BE A PROMISING APPROACH TO PREPARATION OF THE DIAMOND-LIKE SURFACES REQUIRED. OUR PREVIOUS STUDIES WITH THIS METHOD HAVE DEMONSTRATED A HARD CARBON FILM WITH DIAMOND-LIKE PROPERTIES CAN BE FORMED BY THE DEPOSITION OF ENERGETIC CARBON ATOMS OR HYDROCARBON FRAGMENTS. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL INVOLVE A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF PLASMA DISCHARGE CONDITIONS ON THE DEPOSITION LAYERS OBTAINED. THIS WILL INCLUDE SUCH VARIABLES AS GAS FLOWRATE, PRESSURE, RF POWER, AND SUBSTRATE ELECTRODE SELF BIAS POTENTIAL.