Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-23T09:02:19.160Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Growth and Mechanical and Tribological Characterization of Multi-Layer Hard Carbon Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

J. Ager
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720
I. Brown
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720
O. Monteiro
Affiliation:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720
J. A. Knapp
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratory, MS 1056, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185
D. M. Follstaedt
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratory, MS 1056, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185
M. Nastasi
Affiliation:
Center for Materials Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
K. C. Walter
Affiliation:
Center for Materials Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
C. J. Maggiore
Affiliation:
Center for Materials Sciences, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Get access

Abstract

Vacuum-arc deposition is used to deposit multilayer carbon films by modulating the sample bias during deposition. The effect of varying the sublayer thickness in multilayer films consisting of alternating layers of “hard” (68.4 GPa, -100 V bias) and “soft” (27.5 GPa, -2000 V bias) was investigated. Films consisting of equal thickness layers of hard and soft material and an individual layer thickness varying from 10 to 35 nm were deposited. Mechanical property measurements were obtained by finite element modeling of nanoindentation load-displacement curves. The film hardness values were about 20% below the average of the component layers and relatively independent of the layer thickness. TEM investigation revealed deterioration of the multilayer structure when the sublayer thickness was below 15 nm due to implantation damage of the hard layers caused by the energetic C+ ions of the soft layers (-2000 V bias) deposited over them. Pin-on-disk wear tests show that the wear rate drops when sublayer thickness is decreased below 20 nm and remains constant with further decreases in the layer thickness.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. McKenzie, D. R., Muller, D., and Pailthorpe, B. A., Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 773 (1991).Google Scholar
2. Gerstner, E. G., McKenzie, D. R., Puchert, M. K., Timbrell, P. Y., and Zou, J.., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A. 13, 406 {(1995).Google Scholar
3. Tamor, M. A. and Vassel, W. C., J. Appl. Phys. 76, 3823 (1994).Google Scholar
4. Robertson, J., Pure Appl. Chem. 66, 1789 (1994).Google Scholar
5. Anders, S., Anders, A., Ager, J. W. III, Wang, Z., Pharr, G. M., Tsui, T. Y., Brown, I. G., and Bhatia, C. S., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. 383,453 (1995).Google Scholar
6. Ager, J. W. III, Anders, S., Brown, I. G., Nastasi, M., and Walter, K. C., Surf. Coatings Technol., in press.Google Scholar
7. Anders, S., Anders, A., Brown, I. G., Wei, B., Komvopoulos, K., Ager, J. W. III, Yu, K. M., Surf. Coatings Technol. 68/69, 388 (1994).Google Scholar
8. Ager, J. W. III, Anders, S., Anders, A., Brown, I. G., Appl. Phys. Lett. 66, 3444 (1995).Google Scholar
9. Nanoindentation was performed at Nano Instruments, Inc., Knoxville, TN.Google Scholar
10. Knapp, J. A., Follstaedt, D. M., Barbour, J. C., Myers, S. M., Ager, J. W. III, Brown, I. G., Monteiro, O. R., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. 1996, this session.Google Scholar
11. Biersack, J. P., Berg, S., and Nender, C., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 59/60, 21 (1991).Google Scholar
12. Froes, F. H. and Suryanarayana, C., J. Metals 41, 12 (1989).Google Scholar