Structural and tribological characteristics of carbon nitride films deposited by the reactive ionized-cluster beam technique

Abstract

Abstract A reactive ionized-cluster beam deposition system was used to synthesize carbon nitride films. Raman scattering analysis shows the existence of a characteristic peak due to covalent C–N single bonds. This is consistent with the results of Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic measurements. The deposited films exhibit an extremely high hardness of 6200 kgf mm −2 . The friction and wear behavior of these films without any lubrication were measured by a reciprocating-motion ball-on-disk tribometer. It is noted that the deposited films have low initial and steady-state friction coefficients in the range 0.08–0.14. The wear rates of carbon nitride films are significantly lower than that of carbon thin films prepared by the same deposition system and evaluated under similar test conditions. These results are very encouraging for the tribological applications of carbon nitride films.