Arc Plasma Deposition Research Articles

Characteristics and performance of Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings deposited by cathodic arc plasma deposition

In this study, Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings synthesized by the cathodic arc plasma deposition were evaluated for potential application in injection molding dies. The double-layered coatings were designed with CrN of constant thickness as an interlayer and Cr 2O 3 of various thickness as a surface layer. Cr 2O 3 coatings of different thickness were deposited at varied times under the mixture of N 2 and O 2 at a constant flow rate. Well-adherent Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings were identified using scratch test and Rockwell C indention test. Characteristics of Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings were investigated by using XRD, XPS, SEM, tribological tests, and water contact angle measurement. The XRD analysis showed an increasing peak intensity of the Cr 2O 3 phase as the thickness of the top layer increased. The double-layered coatings exhibited an enhanced hardness of 32 GPa comparable to that of CrN (20 GPa). The tribological property of Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings also compared favorably with that of CrN film. The water contact angle measurement revealed that Cr 2O 3/CrN double-layered coatings were 40% higher than CrN film.

Combinatorial Search for Low Resistivity Pd–Cu–Si Thin Film Metallic Glass Compositions

A new combinatorial method to deposit thin films using an arc plasma, Combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD), was applied to search for low resistivity compositions of Pd–Cu–Si thin film metallic glasses (TFMGs). The CAPD setup includes three arc plasma guns (APGs), with each gun shooting a pulse-like plasma of Pd, Cu or Si at specific time intervals to deposit a Pd–Cu–Si thin film on an SiO2 substrate. In this study, a Pd-based compositionally-graded thin film was deposited by controlling the number of shots as well as the plasma strength. The deposited thin film was separated into 1,089 samples (thin film library), and the thickness, composition, phase, and relative resistivity of each sample was evaluated without detaching them from the library. From the samples, three amorphous, low relative resistivity CAPD samples were identified. To verify that these samples were metallic glasses, their compositions were reproduced in samples deposited by sputtering, and their Tg (glass transition temperature) and Tx (crystallization temperature) were measured. The absolute resistivities of the three metallic glass samples were also measured. As the result, the Pd81Cu5Si14 at. % sample showed the lowest absolute resistivity of 64 µ Ω ·cm and a supercooled liquid region temperature range ( ΔTx=Tx-Tg) of 50 K. This resistivity is 17% lower and the supercooled liquid region is almost two times larger than those of the known Pd-based TFMG composition.

Combinatorial Arc Plasma Deposition of Thin Films

In this paper, we introduce a new combinatorial thin film deposition process that uses arc plasma [combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD)]. The major goal of CAPD in this study is to search for new compositions of amorphous thin film alloys. CAPD uses three cathodic arc plasma guns and the guns shoot the pulse like plasma one by one at a specific time interval. The plasma from each gun is guided onto a substrate by a magnetic field at a specific area on the substrate so as to deposit a compositionally-graded thin film. The deposited thin film is separated into 1,089 samples (the size of each is 1 ×1 mm2) by a trench grid on the substrate. The samples together are called the thin film library and all samples are numbered by the 5-bit row and column marks in the grid. To prove CAPD, a thin film library of a Pd–Cu–Si alloy system was deposited. The composition and non crystallinity of 180 samples were evaluated using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDX) and imaging-plate X-ray diffractometer (IP-XRD), respectively. Both measurements were performed without detaching the samples from the library. Analysis of 180 samples showed a graded composition, and some of the samples were shown to be amorphous.

Physical vapour deposition coatings on elements of pressure casting dies

Cathodic arc plasma deposition in an atmosphere of ionised gases (N2 + C2H2) was used to deposit a PVD coating onto the surface of hot work tool steel after ammonia nitriding. In order to increase the adhesion, the steel surface was preshaped with a water jet containing 20 wt-%Al2O3 prior to PVD coating. The 10 μm thick PVD coat consisted of titanium and aluminium nitride–carbide grains of M(N, C) type. The application of a PVD coating onto the cores and surfaces of inputs of dies for pressure casting of Al–Si alloy castings had a positive effect on their durability.

Comparative properties of titanium oxide biomaterials grown by pulsed vacuum arc plasma deposition and by unbalanced magnetron sputtering

The aim of the paper is to characterize titanium oxide films synthesized by unbalanced magnetron sputtering and metal vacuum arc deposition, as well as to test the microstructure, composition, sheet resistance and blood compatibility. With increasing oxygen inlet, the rutile TiO 2 can be synthesized in both processes. The sheet resistance of the samples increases with higher oxygen pressure and it shows a sharp increase when only rutile TiO 2 exists in the films, a similar tendency was found for pulsed vacuum arc plasma deposition and unbalanced magnetron sputtering methods. The films synthesized by the unbalanced magnetron sputtering and pulsed vacuum arc deposition sample contain the rutile phase and have a similar composition, but the microstructures like grain size and roughness are different. These will affect the semiconductivity and the surface energy, and these properties affected their blood compatibility and made their blood compatibility more different. The platelet adhesion behavior of rutile TiO 2 synthesized by unbalanced magnetron sputtering is better than the one synthesized by pulsed vacuum arc deposition.

220 高機能光学素子金型用アモルファス合金のコンビナトリアル探索(超精密・マイクロ加工)

This paper reports combinatorial search of novel amorphous alloy for advanced optical element (such as aspheric glass lens with diffraction grating etc.) forming die. Required properties of the amorphous alloy are as follows ; (a) the amorphous alloy film can be fabricated thickness more than 50μm on blank die. (b) Even if die of the amorphous alloy forms on a glass in air, the alloy do not crystallize and oxidize, and don't adhere to the glass. (c) Ultra-precision machining (surface roughness under 30nm Rmax) by single-point diamond machining (SPDM) is applicable to the alloy. (d) The fracture strength is more than 0.6GPa at least. To search the novel amorphous alloy, we employ combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD). Pt-Hf-Zr-Ni amorphous alloy was picked out from over 25,000 samples using CAPD. The alloy filled the request and it succeeded in fabricating an advanced optical element forming die by SPDM.

Control of stress and delamination in single and multi-layer carbon thin films prepared by cathodic arc and RF plasma deposition and implantation

The build-up of intrinsic stress in carbon thin films deposited by vapour deposition is a major cause of delamination. The delamination issue is one of the main reasons preventing wider applications of carbon vapour deposited films. In this work, we studied single and multilayer thin films of carbon and found that under certain deposition conditions, we were able to produce thin films free from delamination. Furthermore, we were able to stop film delaminating by adding a control layer. Two methods were used to deposit the carbon films: (1) filtered cathodic arc deposition with both negative DC and pulsed bias applied to the substrate and (2) RF plasma CVD with negative pulse bias up to 30 kV, 60 Hz, 100 μs. Both single and multilayer structures of carbon with different sp 2 and sp 3 ratios were deposited and it was found that, under controlled conditions, the overall stress was maintained at acceptable levels. Moreover, it was found that an additional control layer stopped ongoing delamination of the film. The structures of these multilayers were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).

Deposition of superhard TiAlSiN thin films by cathodic arc plasma deposition

Thin films of TiAlSiN were deposited on AISI H13 tool steel substrate using Ti and AlSi cathodes by a cathodic arc plasma deposition system. The influence of the nitrogen pressure, AlSi cathode arc current, bias voltage, and deposition temperature on the mechanical and the structural properties of the films were investigated. The hardness of the film decreased with the increase of nitrogen gas pressure. The hardness of the film increased with the increase of AlSi cathode arc current and the bias voltage. The hardness of the film reached 48 GPa at the deposition temperature of 300 °C and decreased with a further increase of the temperature. Wear and scratch tests were performed on thin films deposited in various conditions. The critical load of the films was above 50 N.

Investigation of the corrosion resistance of ZrCN hard coatings fabricated by advanced controlled arc plasma deposition

In order to investigate the corrosion resistance of the commercialized hard coatings in decorative application, the standard optimized process developed in Hauzer's advanced controlled cathodic-arc (ACA) plasma deposition system for mass production was employed to fabricate ZrCN coatings on mechanical-polished brasses with or without electroplated Ni/Cr multi-layers. The cathodic polarization analyses were carried out in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solutions to study the corrosion resistance of ZrCN coatings. From the polarization curves, it can be concluded that both the high-quality ZrCN coating and the smoothness of the base materials are crucial to reduce the corrosion.

Oxidation behavior of titanium nitride films

The oxidation behavior of titanium nitride (TiN) films has been investigated by using x-ray diffraction, Raman scattering spectroscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. TiN films were deposited onto Si substrates by using cathodic arc plasma deposition technique. After that, the films were annealed in the air at 500–800 °C for 2 h. The x-ray diffraction spectra showed that rutile–TiO2 appeared above 600 °C. The relative intensity of TiO2 rapidly increased with temperatures. Only rutile–TiO2 was detected above 700 °C. Raman scattering spectra indicated the presence of rutile–TiO2 signals above 500 °C. Meanwhile an additional Si peak appeared at 700 °C in Raman spectra, above which only Si peak appeared. Many nano pores were found on the surface of films annealed at temperatures between 600 and 700 °C in field emission scanning electron microscopy, while the granular structure existed at 800 °C. The as-deposited TiN films had an apparent columnar structure. The thin and dense oxide overlayer...

Substrate effect on the mechanical and tribological properties of arc plasma physical vapour deposition coatings

The present study describes and compares the mechanical and tribological properties of CrN coatings deposited by PVD/CAPD (Cathodic Arc Plasma Deposition) on three different substrates: steel, aluminium alloy and reinforced aluminium alloy. The coating-substrate interfaces were analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ultra-microindentation technique was applied to measure coating hardness. Experiments using a tribometer (pin on disc configuration) under lubricated conditions have been performed in order to evaluate the friction and wear properties of the different systems. The measured coating hardness depends on the indentation depth reached in the ultra-microindentation tests. In this study the coating-substrate system has been characterized, analyzing the hardness variation from the coating to the substrate by different indentation depths, and modelling the experimental curve with a universally approved mathematical model. The CrN–steel system exhibits the best performance, in which the system hardness is close to the CrN coating hardness. The CrN–AMC system performs better than CrN–aluminium but worse than CrN–steel system.

Mo-containing diamond-like carbon films with blue emission

Molybdenum-containing diamond-like carbon (Mo-DLC) thin films were synthesized on silicon substrate using metal cathodic arc and acetylene dual plasma deposition. Microstructural observations show that fine γ-MoC nanocrystallites with sizes of 1–2 nm are embedded in amorphous carbon cross-linked structures. The Mo-DLC films were found to have a photoluminescence (PL) band in blue. Due to obvious PL spectral asymmetry, we Gaussian divided the PL peak into two bands with the peak positions at about 405 and 455 nm. Spectral analyses suggest that the two blue PL bands arise from sp 2 hybridized carbon clusters with different sizes and γ-MoC nanocrystallites. Our experimental results provide the understanding of the blue-emitting properties of metal-containing diamond-like carbon films.

Nanoindentation and nanoscratch behaviors of DLC coatings on different steel substrates

Nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests were performed for diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings on the different steel substrates in order to investigate the deformation and failure behaviors of the coating/substrate systems and their tribological properties. In this work, DLC coatings with a thickness of approximate 500 nm were grown on 9Cr18 and 40CrNiMo steel substrates by vacuum magnetic-filtering arc plasma deposition, respectively. The nanoindentation results show that the indentation response was plasticity-dominated. The peak load on sample, residual indentation depth, hardness, modulus can provide important information of the mechanical resistance of the materials tested. The scratch process with the ramping normal load was analyzed into the three regimes, which are fully elastic recovery, plastic deformation and delamination of coatings. This shows that the scratch response was controlled by plastic deformation in the substrate. The substrate plays an important role in determining the mechanical properties and wear resistance of such coatings. As a consequence, 9Cr18 steel is a better candidate of substrate materials for DLC coatings due to the better load-carrying capacity and scratch/wear resistance of DLC/9Cr18.

Cathodic Arc Plasma Combinatorial Material Synthesis for Composition Search of New Amorphous Alloy

AbstractCombinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD) method was used to search for new compositions of thin film amorphous alloys. A cathodic arc plasma gun (APG) was adopted as the deposition source for CAPD. The CAPD setup has three APGs radiating out from the center of a substrate. The APGs shoot pulse-like plasma shots one by one at a specific time interval. The plasma from each APG cathode is guided onto a specific area on a substrate by a magnetic field. Each such area overlaps the adjacent ones. Thus, a compositionally-graded thin film is deposited in the overlap area because of mixing of each deposited thin film from each APG that has a thickness grade. The deposited thin film is separated into 1,089 samples (the size of each is 1×1 mm2) using a grid on the substrate. The samples together are referred to as the thin film library. To demonstrate the capability of CAPD, two thin film libraries were deposited in this study. One is a thin film library of a PdCuSi alloy system, and the other is a MoZrPd system. The compositions and crystallinity of the samples were evaluated on the substrate using EDS and IP-XRD respectively. Analysis of the samples showed a graded composition, and some of the samples were shown to be amorphous in both libraries.

Evaluation of Mo-based Amorphous Alloy Thin Films Exhibiting High Crystallization Temperature

AbstractThis paper presents the characteristics of Mo-based (Mo-Zr based) amorphous alloys exhibiting a high crystallization temperature. In order to investigate the alloy composition showing an amorphous state in the Mo-Zr-X (X=Si and Al) alloy system, thin film libraries were prepared at first by combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD). The composition region corresponding to the amorphous state was identified in the libraries with X-ray diffraction. On the basis of the alloy composition and phase distribution of the thin film libraries, additional amorphous Mo-Zr-Si and Mo-Zr-Al thin films were prepared by a carousel sputtering system. The crystallization temperature Tc of the amorphous Mo50Zr(50-x)Six thin films exceeded 1073 K. However, the Mo-Zr-Si thin films were so brittle that they could not be subjected to tensile testing. In the Mo-Zr-Al thin films, Tc of the Mo-rich MoxZr(90-x)Al10 and MoxZr(76-x)Al24 thin films exceeded 973 K. Although the toughness of Mo-based amorphous alloy thin films could be improved slightly by adding Al, the amorphous Mo-Zr-Al thin films were also brittle.

Combinatorial Optimization of Low Electrical Resistivity Pd-based Thin Film Metallic Glass

AbstractIn order to optimize low electrical resistivity compositions of Pd-based thin film metallic glass (TFMG), Combinatorial arc plasma deposition (CAPD) was employed. A Pd-based continuous compositionally-graded thin film was deposited using CAPD in the experiments. To deposit the composition-grade of the Pd-rich thin film, the number of shots and the plasma strength were controlled. The deposited thin film was separated into 1,089 samples for measurements. The thickness, composition, phase and relative resistivity of these samples were measured respectively. And three amorphous CAPD samples exhibiting low relative resistivity were selected. To determine whether these were TFMG compositions, their compositions were reproduced on sputter-deposited samples and their Tg and Tx were measured. It was found that the sample of Pd81Cu5Si14 at.% showed the lowest absolute resistivity (60 μΩ·cm) and the largest temperature range of supercooled liquid region (SCLR) i.e., 60 K among all samples. The resistivity was 19% lower than conventional Pd-based TFMG and SCLR was two and half times as large. The tensile strength was higher than the conventional TFMG and the Young's modulus was lower than the conventional one.

The Properties of the Rectangular Arc Ion Plating with Magnetic Filtering Shutter

A major obstacle to the broad application of cathodic arc plasma deposition is the presence of macroparticles. In this paper, the properties of the large rectangular arc ion plating with a magnetic filtering shutter system to filter macroparticles are studied. It is proposed that the macroparticles in the plasma beam are effectively removed with the magnetic filtering shutter system, and the quality of the deposited films is improved.

Structure, chemical and phase composition of hard titanium carbon nitride coatings deposited on HS 6-5-2 steel

It is the object of this work to determine the influence of reactive-gas mixtures on the structure, chemical and phase composition of titanium carbon nitride coatings produced by cathodic arc plasma deposition (CAPD) on HS 6-5-2 steel substrate. The film morphology was examined by scanning electron microscope. The phase composition was tested by X-ray diffraction. The chemical composition was determined by the energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) and the elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) methods. Furthermore, the depth composition profiles were determined by the glow discharge optical emission spectrometry (GDOES) method. The results show that the gas mixture composition has an evident influence on the structure, chemical and phase compositions of TiCN coatings.

Influence of tribological conditions on the dry friction mechanism of PVD Zr–C:H hard coatings

The ball-on-disk method was used to determine the tribological properties of Zr–C:H films deposited by cathodic arc plasma deposition (CAPD) in low-temperature PVD processes (not exceeding 180 °C) on the 100Cr6 steel substrates. Different matchings with counter-specimen material (100Cr6, Al 2O 3, Si 2N 4) and different tribological conditions of a friction, at the same time maintaining the constant power in a friction zone expressed by the product of load and sliding speed, were applied during the tests. It was revealed, that values of a friction coefficient obtained during the tests and a wear rate coefficient of coatings and counter specimens are not only determined by the characteristics of material but also by the characteristics of the whole tribological system and strongly depend on working conditions of a friction test and matched materials. It was also revealed, that especially dangerous effects on durability of carbon coatings occurred when a friction zone carried a heavy load simultaneously with low sliding speed and additionally when carbon coatings were matched with very hard material of a counter specimen (Si 3N 4). Analysis of elements concentration distributed perpendicularly to the worn groove profile used to determine the mechanism of tribological wear enabled to reveal the occurrence of coating and counter-specimen materials in a friction zone.

Substrate Effects on the Micro/Nanomechanical Properties of TiN Coatings

Nanoindentation and nanoscratch tests were performed for titanium nitride (TiN) coatings on different tool steel substrates to investigate the indentation/scratch induced deformation behavior of the coatings and the adhesion of the coating–substrate interfaces and their tribological property. In this work, TiN coatings with a thickness of about 500 nm were grown on GT35, 9Cr18 and 40CrNiMo steels using vacuum magnetic-filtering arc plasma deposition. In the nanoindentation tests, the hardness and modulus curves for TiN/GT35 reduced the slowest around the film thickness 500 nm with the increase of indentation depth, followed by TiN/9Cr18 and TiN/40CrNiMo. Improving adhesion properties of coating and substrate can decrease the differences of internal stress field. The scratch tests showed that the scratch response was controlled by plastic deformation in the substrate. The substrate plays an important role in determining the mechanical properties and wear resistance of such coatings. TiN/GT35 exhibited the best load-carrying capacity and scratch/wear resistance. As a consequence, GT35 is the best substrate for TiN coatings of the substrate materials tested.