Silver nanocluster containing diamond like carbon

Applying Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) as medical coating has become well established since large scale plasma processes like Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation and Deposition (PIII&D) are available. Now the focus of research lies on systematic modification of certain biological relevant properties and the most recent field of interest turned to generating antimicrobial behaviour. This is desirable for medical tools as well as for different types of medical implants. Since silver and copper are known to provide a bactericidal effect, one tries to introduce clusters of these noble metals into the carbon matrix. The basic principle of the method presented is to convert a metal containing polymer film into DLC by ion bombardment. In this paper the hydrogenated DLC matrix is characterized and the evolution of the metal particles is studied. By means of film composition (RBS/ERD), bonding structure (Raman spectroscopy) and hardness (nanoindentation), the dependency of these material properties on ion species, energy and fluence is investigated. TEM imaging is used to visualize the film structure. Upon ion irradiation of the polymer films, increased density and considerable loss of hydrogen can be observed, which both are controlled by ion fluence and mass. The crosslinking of the carbon network, caused by hydrogen drive out as well as atomic displacements in collision cascades, results in the formation of a-C:H. The silver particles in the film some ion induced growth, but still remain as nanoclusters in the a-C:H matrix. (C) 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.