Nanostructured Coatings Based on Amorphous Carbon and Gold Nanoparticles Obtained by the Pulsed Vacuum-arc Method

Abstract

Nanostructured coatings based on diamond-like carbon and gold-doped carbon with a thickness of 100-300 nm were obtained by a pulsed vacuum-arc method on silicon substrates. The structure of the coatings was studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, the elemental composition was studied by X-ray microanalysis. In addition, hardness, adhesive and tribological characteristics, the magnitude of internal stresses, as well as electrical conductivity and optical characteristics were also investigated. It was found that gold nanoparticles in the carbon matrix have a crystal structure and their size is about 5 nm. A change in the gold content from 1 to 25 % leads to a deterioration in the tribological properties of the coating, while the resistivity decreases from 920 to 0.06 mΩm. The technique proposed in this study for the doping of a diamond-like carbon coating with gold allows varying the resistivity and transmittance over a wide range while maintaining high wear resistance and low friction coefficient.