Abstract
Seven Cr-B-N films with various boron contents ranging from 3.7 to 20.6 at.% were deposited by a bipolar asymmetric pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering system. The structures of thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The surface and cross-sectional morphologies of thin films were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The surface roughness of thin films was explored by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A nanoindenter was used to evaluate the hardness and properties of thin films, respectively. The phases of each Cr-B-N coating were mainly CrN and amorphous BN regardless the boron content. It was found that the grain size decreased with increasing boron content. The hardness and elastic modulus of Cr-B-N thin films decreased with increasing boron concentration, which were mainly attributed to the nanostructure configuration of small CrN nanograins and large intergranular amorphous BN phase.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 191-194 |
| Journal | Vacuum |
| Volume | 87 |
| Online published | 14 Mar 2012 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2013 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Science Council , Taiwan through contracts No. NSC 99-2221-E-131-043 .
Research Keywords
- Amorphous BN
- Cr-B-N nanocomposite thin film
- Nanoindentation
- Pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering
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