ICMCTF2005 Session D2-1: Special Forum World Market Perspective of Diamond and Diamond-Like Carbon

This paper reviews the present state-of-the-art of the chemical vapour deposition processes utilized for industrialization of diamond films, carbon nanotubes and amorphous carbon films. The broad spectrum of materials and processes will allow only to cover selected examples that have a proven potential of industrialization. Moreover we will provide an overview of the current status of research, development and fabrication of products that are based on these carbon modifications.

Examples ranging from tools to biosensors and other medical products to diffusion barrier coatings and field emission devices will be covered. The authors will compare the state-of-the-art with competing technologies, materials and products and provide their view of the future of the materials and application areas.

In the early 90s, we saw the emerging of several new vacuum coating technologies for diamond like carbon (DLC) thin film manufacturing. These included physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition and their modifications. Although DLC coated products have reached commercialization in some segments, the growth rate for the past decade was slower than expected in many application areas. Currently, only handful of established applications such as trimming and forming tools for semiconductor industry, special cutting tools, consumer products for example shaving blades and automotive components are successfully implemented. For huge amount of work being carried out throughout the world on promoting the DLC coating, the success rates need to be increased. In the 1996 BCC study, they had projected a higher market and growth rate for DLC related products, however, in year 2001, they observed substantial reduction in this segment. This is because some market leaders moved out from this segment and the number of companies that involved in DLC coating manufacturing had gone down by 80%. Since the discovery of DLC coating, it is always the perception of the end user that the DLC coating can deliver the diamond’s mechanical properties and extremely low friction. However, the mechanical properties of the DLC coating that claimed to be similar with diamond is much lower than expected. The hardness in most of the cases is lower than the competitors such as TiN, TiAlN and TiCN and more brittle. The advantages so far for the DLC coating are slippery (low friction) and non-sticky to metal and hence limiting the potential growth of DLC market. To address this, researches try to find various ways to improve the hardness and the resiliency of the coating.

Following the cathodic arc deposition, CAD method, a new carbon based coating production-manufacturing method, Filtered Cathodic Vacuum Arc, FCVA, has been developed. FCVA technology is able to produce the unique film, tetrahedral amorphous carbon, ta-C film that cannot be easily produced by other methods. FCVA technology is a major breakthrough for the coating industry as this technology allows the deposition of ta-C films that is harder, smoother, more durable and contamination-free, making it an ideal replacement alternative to conventional DLC film produced by the PVD and CVD coating methods in many areas. With more than one decade of research and development, NTI are able to produce resilient ta-C film without compromising to the hardness of the film. This FCVA technology is an enabling technology for many new promising coating applications besides direct replacement of DLC coating as it is able to meet the increasingly stringent technical specifications of certain coating applications.

In the presentation, the FCVA technology will be benchmarked against several DLC coating technologies. The properties such as diamond content, scratch resistance, wear rate and hardness will be presented and benchmarked against CVD DLC. We will showcase the performance of the coating on the stamping and forming tool, end mill, PCB micro drill and router. The coating performance such as the life span of the tool and the dimension control of the board for the PCB micro drill and router will be addressed. The market situation of ta-C coating in Greater China, South East Asia and Japan will be reviewed.