Abstract
W-incorporated diamond-like carbon (W-C:H) films were fabricated by a hybrid beams system consisting of a DC magnetron sputtering and a linear ion source. The W concentration (1.08~31.74 at.%) in the film was controlled by varying the sputtering current. The cross-sectional topography, composition, and microstructure of the W-C:H films were investigated by SEM, XPS, TEM, and Raman spectroscopy. The mechanical and tribological properties of the films as a function of W concentration were evaluated by a stress-tester, nanoindentation, and ball-on-disk tribometer, respectively. The results showed that films mainly exhibited the feature of amorphous carbon when W concentration of the films was less than 4.38 at.%, where the incorporated W atoms would be bonded with C atoms and resulted in the formation ofWC1-xnanoparticles. The W-C:H film with 4.38 at.% W concentration showed a minimum value of residual compressive stress, a higher hardness, and better tribological properties. Beyond this W concentration range, both the residual stress and mechanical properties were deteriorated due to the growth of tungsten carbide nanoparticles in the carbon matrix.
Highlights
Diamond-like carbon film (DLC) is a metastable form of amorphous carbon with a certain dominant sp3 bonding
The results indicated that the DLC films with relatively low stress and high hardness could be achieved by doping a low concentration of W atoms
The images demonstrated similar smooth surface when W concentration was less than 4.38 at.% and exhibited the feature of the amorphous structure, which suggested that W-incorporated DLC films (W-C):H films with W concentration less than 4.38 at.% kept amorphous features
Summary
Diamond-like carbon film (DLC) is a metastable form of amorphous carbon with a certain dominant sp bonding. The properties and structure of W-C:H films prepared by the process combining reactive magnetron sputtering with plasma source ion implantation were reported by Baba and coworkers [20]. Considering the characterization complexity of carbon bonds caused by the incorporated W atoms and the easier controlled synthesis with a wide range of W concentration, the new deposition technique of hybrid ion beam system is demanded and the relationship between properties and structure of W-C:H films as a function of W concentration lacked study. Ion beam sources have been widely used in the field of science and industry such as substrate cleaning, DLC film deposition and surface modification [20, 23,24,25,26,27,28,29]. The results indicated that the DLC films with relatively low stress and high hardness could be achieved by doping a low concentration of W atoms
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