Pulsed aerosol assisted plasma deposition: influence of the injection parameters on ZnO/DLC nanocomposite thin films
Résumé
Aerosol-assisted processes enable to deposit thin films, homogeneous [1, 2] or nanocomposite [3, 4, 5,6]. For example, the nebulization of colloidal solutions, i.e. liquid solutions containing nanoparticles, in different plasma processes has been widely used for nanocomposite thin film deposition. However, nanoparticles loaded droplets in the aerosol lead to the deposition of aggregated nanoparticles embedded in the matrix.
Recently, a new process of nanoparticles injection has been developed [7]. This method,
called reactor-injector of nanoparticles, consists in synthesizing nanoparticles prior to their
injection in the plasma in a pulsed injection regime. It enables to form nanocomposite thin
films with really small (<10 nm in diameter) and highly dispersed nanoparticles embedded in the matrix [7].
This work aims to study the deposition of ZnO/DLC nanocomposite thin films in a low-
pressure RF plasma. The main challenge of this process is to find the best compromise
between the parameters for an efficient synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles and an optimal
behaviour of low-pressure RF plasmas in a pulsed regime. It is shown that the operating
window enables to deposit nanocomposite thin films with an extended range of volume
fraction