I prepared DLC by PECVD during holding to SEM to investigate the surface. I noted that there are some dust particles, how can I remove them?
I have used a 50:50 mixture of ethyl ether and ethyl alcohol for cleaning optics. (note ether is extremely flammable, It needs to be used only in fume hoods with high air flow and no sparking or flame sources in the hood or in the exhaust piping) In metallurgical sample preparation we used tetrahydofuran which is not as flammable and works about the same to clean metallographic polished samples. The ether dissolves most greasy residues that make things stick and the alcohol does not evaporate as quickly allowing particles to be washed away. That should not dissolve a diamond like coating. The dust may also be on the surface due to the insulting characteristics of the coating and allowing electrostatic attraction hold the dust on the surface. You can get deionizing ion sources that discharge electric fields. I have used diamond coatings in high pressure microwave digestions and they are resistant but eventually breakdown. The presence of oxidizing acids or hydrogen peroxide will dissolve the coatings in the HPMW vessels.
One of the main desirable properties of DLC is that it's very inert, and fairly resistant to corrosion, acids and alkalis. Hence their use in e.g. sub-sea pipeline coatings. But, if the coating is porous, allowing electrolyte etc. to reach the substrate surface, you can run into problems with accelerated corrosion, pitting, and film delamination.
So whichever cleaning agent you try, success might depend on how good the coating is.
A 'safer' method might be to try typical optic-cleaning techniques, as Paul suggested. Maybe also following that up with a blow-off using nitrogen through an ionising anti-static gun, e.g. the Topgun from Simco Ion.
DLC "Diamond Like Carbon" film which are Diamond like nature .... these are very hard film.
with Sp3 hybridized bonds makes it very stronger.
This is highly corrosive resistance towards ...alkalis and acids solution .... as the band gap is very high so, these are highly nonconductors ... which are the region for corrosive resistance.
the artifacts "dust particles" might be present in your sample before the DLC coating via PECVD system. Which can not be cleaned if it is initially present in your sample.
If it came after the DLC coating development then put it in alcohol medium. vertical direction of your film for some time. This may be helpful ....
As Soumitro Mahanty suggested the "dust particles" may be artefacts. In this case it may be helpful to brush the surface with a carbon brush. By brushing carbon peaks on the surface will be broken down and removed. This kind of treatment is recommenden if the DLC-covered surface is intended to get into direct contact with elastomers, avoiding early damage of the elastomeric material.
If it is dust, than the alcohol method should work.
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