What are diamond and diamond-like carbon films?

The ability to diamond coat tools and engineered components requires the condensation of diamond precursor material from the gas phase in the form of a continuous thin film onto the surface of the component to be coated.

In addition, deposition needs to be performed in order to bring the vapor-deposited material to the structure and morphology of diamond. Diamond is a metastable form of carbon; therefore, when condensed from steam or a stream of energetic particles, it tends to assume its most thermodynamically stable state or form, graphite. Using excellent processes such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and ion beam enhanced deposition, the energy and charge state of the particles in the gas phase can be influenced to some extent, allowing for detailed analysis of the energy state (stable or metastable) and the crystallography and stoichiometric form. Therefore, a range of mechanical, chemical, optical, electronic and thermal properties are used. The actual application composition of various thin films in actual engineering will be determined by the desired thin film properties (i.e. hardness, resistivity, light transmittance, etc.) and the nature of the deposition process used to produce the thin films.