Diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films constitute proven protective coatings due to their outstanding mechanical and tribological properties, combined with a relative chemical inertness and long-term stability. These make them particularly attractive to protect metallic medical implants from corrosion and erosion. However, lack of adhesion between DLC and metallic surfaces is a recurrent problem due to poor interactions with the native oxide layer. An effective strategy to overcome these adhesion issues consists in building interfacial layers. In this context, in this work, the use of a plasma treatment to generate shallow metallic carbide layers was investigated, to promote DLC adhesion directly on the surface of 316L stainless steel (SS). The metallic carbides presence stabilizes and promotes DLC thin film deposition. The highest adhesion was obtained on samples carburized by methane during 20 min with a bias of −700 V. Furthermore, this led to interface amorphization. In conclusion, this study shows that plasma can provide new insights for overcoming the lack of adhesion of DLC thin films on SS metallic surfaces.

中文翻译：

---

低压等离子沉积类金刚石碳涂层在316L不锈钢上的附着力

类金刚石碳 (DLC) 薄膜由于其出色的机械和摩擦学性能，以及相对的化学惰性和长期稳定性，构成了经过验证的保护涂层。这些使它们在保护金属医疗植入物免受腐蚀和侵蚀方面特别有吸引力。然而，DLC 和金属表面之间缺乏附着力是一个反复出现的问题，因为与天然氧化物层的相互作用较差。克服这些粘附问题的有效策略在于构建界面层。在此背景下，在这项工作中，研究了使用等离子体处理来生成浅金属碳化物层，以促进 DLC 直接粘附在 316L 不锈钢 (SS) 表面上。金属碳化物的存在稳定并促进了 DLC 薄膜沉积。在 20 分钟内用甲烷渗碳的样品在 -700 V 的偏压下获得了最高的附着力。此外，这导致了界面非晶化。总之，这项研究表明，等离子体可以为克服 DLC 薄膜在 SS 金属表面上缺乏粘附性提供新的见解。