Investigation of processing parameters for pulsed closed-field unbalanced magnetron co-sputtered TiC–C thin films

Titanium carbide is a well-established wear resistant coating due to its excellent tribological properties including high hardness and elastic modulus, good wear resistance, low coefficient of friction against steel, and high temperature stability. Recent advances in sputtering technology have resulted in improvements in the properties and performance of wear resistant coatings. Closed-field unbalanced magnetron sputtering and pulsed magnetron sputtering have greatly improved the structure and properties of titanium carbide films by increasing ion bombardment at the substrate. The goal of this research was to investigate how processing ties into the structure–property–performance relationship for these types of films. An electrostatic quadrupole plasma analyzer was used to measure the energy of ions at the substrate position. Energy ranges from 0.5 to 280 eV were observed under different pulsing conditions. Excessively high ion energy during deposition was found to erode the tribological performance of films.