Hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films with a designed buffer layer of amorphous hydrogenated silicon carbide on the substrates were fabricated by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The effect of radio frequency (RF) power on the structural and optical properties of a-C:H films was investigated. The ratios of sp 3 to sp 2 of carbon atoms and hydrogen contents in the RF power range of 75–175 W are determined and a similar trend as a function of power. The increase of sp 3 to sp 2 ratio leads to the increase of transmittance and optical gap of a-C:H films. a-C:H film under an RF power of 175 W possesses high transmissive ability (>80%) in the visible wave length, even the highest transmittance value of about 94.2% is achieved at the wave length 550 nm. These results show the optimal a-C:H films which are promising for the applications in the area of solar cells acting a window layer and antireflection layer.

The template-based approach has been employed for the synthesis of nanomaterials with the potential application in the development of new material, energy and microelectronic devices. The templates are carbon nanotubes, to which the external contour is applied. Both plasmaenhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes have been studied for various materials, including SiO2 and Al2O3. It is found that PECVD processes can give conformal coating on the template of carbon nanotubes, and the plasmaenhanced ALD (PEALD) processes do not show obvious damage to the morphology of carbon nanotubes. Pretreatment is also not necessary for the formation of conformal coatings of SiO2 and Al2O3. Moreover, the carbon nanotubes can be treated as the sacrificial template and removed to prepare the nanostructures with original contour. As an example, the 3-dimensional structure of Al2O3 has been demonstrated. This can be explored to develop 2D and 3D nanostructures of the intended materials. The approach of using PECVD and ALD processes makes it possible to integrate in a continuous way such kind of synthesis process with production processes of current semiconductor and energy industries.

The study focuses on the adhesion and friction coefficient of DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coating on a metallic surface AISI-316L. A DC technique was used in order to develop DLC coatings, while a silicon interface allowed a better adhesion of those coatings, having variations of time during the deposit to allow different thickness in anchoring coating. The adhesion and friction coefficient were measure through Scratching Test while the sheets were analyzed through Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to visualize its surface morphology. Besides, it was used Raman spectroscopy to study sp3/sp2 ratio of DLC coatings. The tests show that the sample with the largest period of time of deposit has a better adhesion and the highest surface roughness.

Solid phase crystallization of plasma-enhanced chemical-vapor-deposited (PECVD) amorphous silicon (α-Si:H) in α-Si:H/Al and Al/α-Si:H structures has been investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Radiative heating has been used to anneal films deposited on carbon-coated nickel (Ni) grids at temperatures between 200 and 400°C for TEM studies. α-Si:H films were deposited on c-Si substrates using high vacuum (HV) PECVD for the XRD studies. TEM studies show that crystallization of α-Si:H occurs at 200°C when Al film is deposited on top of the α-Si:H film. Similar behavior was observed in the XRD studies. In the case of α-Si:H deposited on top of Al films, the crystallization could not be observed at 400°C by TEM and even up to 500°C as seen by XRD.