NANOCOMPOSITE nc-TiC/a-C:H FILMS FABRICATED BY DUAL PLASMA TECHNIQUE

Nanocomposite nc-TiC/a-C:H films have been deposited via filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique, employing Ti target and C2H2 gas as material precursors. The composition and nanostructure of film, correlated to mechanical and tribological properties of film, are varied by changing C2H2 flow rate and filter coil current. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction has been used to show that salient TiC (111) peak exists in film with grain size of order of 8–10 nm, as a function of filter coil current. Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) investigations demonstrate that the nc-TiC/a-C:H films mainly contain nanocrystalline graphite and sp2-bonded carbon, both as a function of C2H2 flow rate. Mechanical tests confirm that the nc-TiC/a-C:H films possess superior hardness of 33.9 GPa and elastic modulus of 237.6 GPa.