Selective etching of hydrogenated diamond-like carbon thin films by hyperthermal oxygen atomic beams

Tagawa, Masahito*; Yokota, Kumiko*; Kitamura, Akira*; Matsumoto, Koji*; Yamada, Noriko*; Kanda, Kazuhiro*; Niibe, Masahito*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka ; Teraoka, Yuden; Belin, M.*; Fontaine, J.*

Degradation of hydrogenated diamond -like carbon surfaces in space environments by action of high speed atomic oxygen beams has been investigated in laboratory environments. The HDLC was prepared on Si substrates by a plasma CVD method. High speed oxygen atomic beams were generated by a laser detonation method. The HDLC surfaces irradiated by the oxygen atomic beams were analyzed by Synchrotron Radiation Photoemission Spectroscopy (SRPES), Ratherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS), Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (ERDA), Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS). Although chemical bonding states of oxygen atoms were maintained as they were even after the oxygen atomic beam irradiation, concentrations of carbon and hydrogen were decreased. The sp/sp ratio was also decreased. Consequently, carbon atoms in the sp state were selectively etched out with hydrogen atoms by chemical reactions with oxygen atomic beams.