Deposition and Characterization of Reactive Magnetron Sputtered Tungsten Carbide Films

Abstract:

Tungsten carbide thin films were deposited on silicon (100) substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering using CH₄ as a carbon source. The microstructure, compressive stress, hardness and tribological behaviors showed great dependences on the rates of CH₄ flow (F_CH4). Increasing the F_CH4 from 2 to 5 sccm, the film exhibited a phase transition from hexagonal-W₂C to cubic-WC_1-x. Further increasing the F_CH4 larger than 10sccm, the film presented amorphous state. As the F_CH4 increased, the Raman revealed that the films showed a graphitization trend, meanwhile, the surface of the films became smoother and smoother. The hardness of tungsten carbide films first increased, and then decreased after reaching the maximum 38.5GPa (F_CH4=10 sccm). While the sample deposited at 15 sccm obtained the lowest wear rate (2.17×10^-6 mm³/Nm) and low coefficient of friction (CoF, 0.24) and still maintained a high hardness of 32.1 GPa. The lowest wear rate could be ascribed to the highest ratio of H³/E².

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 898)
• Pages: 1505-1511
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.898.1505
• Online since: June 2017
• Authors: Su Xuan Du, Mao Wen, Ping Ren, Q.N. Meng, Kan Zhang*, Wei Tao Zheng
• Keywords: Hardness, Sputtering, Tribology, Tungsten Carbide Film

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