Evaluation of Wear Resistance of Sputtered Amorphous SiCN Film and Measurement of Delamination Strength of Film by Micro Edge-Indent Method
Jinhua ZHENG, Masahiko KATO, Seiji TAKEZOE and Keijiro NAKASA
Abstract:SiC and SiCN films were deposited on titanium and tool steel substrates in an RF magnetron sputtering apparatus with a SiC target using a mixture of argon and nitrogen gas. A micro edge-indent method was newly proposed to evaluate delamination strength of the thin films, and the relation between the delamination energy and wear strength of the films was examined. The results show that the micro edge-indent test is effective to evaluate the delamination energy of thin films, and the delamination energy of SiC film is larger for Ti substrate than tool steel substrate. The maximum delamination energy of the SiC and SiCN films are obtained when the substrate is not heated and the nitrogen gas flow rate is about 1.0cm3/min. The wear delamination cycles of SiC film decreases with increasing substrate heating temperature, and that of SiCN film decreases with increasing nitrogen gas flow rate. The delamination cycles of the films almost correspond with the delamination energy before wear tests, but they are also affected by friction coefficient and hardness of films. Key Words:Thin film, Silicon carbide, Sputtering, Wear test, Micro edge-indent test, Delamination