Influence of methane flow on the microstructure and properties of TiAl‐doped a‐C:H films deposited by middle frequency reactive magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Hydrogenated TiAl-doped a-C : H films were deposited on Si substrates by middle frequency magnetron sputtering TiAl target in argon and methane gas mixture atmosphere. The surface morphology, hardness, chemical nature and bond types of the films were characterized by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM), XPS, Raman spectroscopy and nanoindentation. The friction and wear behaviors of the deposited films were characterized on an UMT-2MT test system. SEM was utilized to analyze the wear scar and debris on steel balls after sliding on the deposited films under dry friction conditions. The wear rate of the deposited films was calculated from traces of surface profiles taken across the wear track using an optical profile. The results demonstrated that the film deposited at 60 sccm methane flow exhibited higher hardness, as well as low friction coefficient and wear rate, which is attributed to the formation of a graphitized transfer layer.

Effects of bias voltage on structure and properties of TiAl‐doped a‐C:H films prepared by magnetron sputtering

“…Moreover, the resputtering of the as‐deposited film, i.e. kicking off the adatoms or growing surface by the incoming ions was stronger 22, 23. So, the growth rate decreased as the applied bias voltage increased.…”

“…Besides, the deposition parameters including plasma density, gas flow and bias voltage could affect microstructure and properties of a‐C:H films. In our previous work, we studied the effects of methane flow on the microstructure and properties of TiAl‐doped a‐C:H films 22…”

“…In our previous work, we studied the effects of methane flow on the microstructure and properties of TiAl-doped a-C : H films. [22] In this paper, TiAl-doped a-C : H films were prepared by MF magnetron sputtering TiAl target in argon and methane mixture atmosphere. We focus on the effects of substrate bias voltage on the microstructure and properties of deposited films.…”

Ab Initio Investigation on Cu/Cr Codoped Amorphous Carbon Nanocomposite Films with Giant Residual Stress Reduction

“…Especially, two or more metal elements codoping has been taken into account recently to overcome these barriers and explore new functions conveyed by multiple nanostructures coexisting in carbon films. For example, Liu et al − recently reported that the Ti/Al codoped a-C films exhibited low residual stress, high hardness, good toughness, as well as low friction coefficient and wear rate, which was attributed to the formation of a graphitized transfer layer. Moreover, when Ti was replaced by Si, a near-frictionless and superelastic behavior but low hardness was obtained in Si/Al codoped a-C:H films, due to the dual nanocompsite structures combined with fullerene-like clusters in carbon matrix .…”

Influence of Applied Bias Voltage on the Composition, Structure, and Properties of Ti:Si‐Codoped a‐C:H Films Prepared by Magnetron Sputtering

“…Therefore, it can be clearly seen that the root mean square (Rms) roughness decreased from about 4.2 to 0.7 nm with the increasing bias voltage from 0 to −200 V, as shown in Figure 3. On the other hand, at high bias voltage, bombardment of ions or radicals caused heating effect of the substrate and hence promoted the mobility and diffusion of species [14], which lead to an increase in surface roughness as the applied bias voltage further increased. Therefore, the variation trend of surface morphology is the result of the competition of the above two factors.…”