Reactive sputtering of NbCx-based nanocomposite coatings: An up-scaling study

Nanocomposite Nb-C coatings, with a C/Nb ratio of 0.93–1.59, have been deposited by reactive sputtering in a commercial sputtering system where the C is supplied from an acetylene gas at deposition rates of up to 200 nm/min. The coatings are compared to non-reactively sputtered Nb-C coatings deposited from Nb and C targets in lab-scale equipment at deposition rates two orders of magnitude lower. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electron microscopy are used to conclude that all coatings consist of nanocrystalline NbCx grains (nc-NbCx) embedded in a matrix of amorphous C (a-C). The coating performance was evaluated in terms of their mechanical, tribological, and electrical properties. The chemical stability of the coatings was evaluated by exposure to a flowing mixture of corrosive gases. It is found that the coatings have comparable microstructure and performance to the coatings deposited by non-reactive sputtering. The high deposition rate and presence of different C-radicals on the coating surface during film growth for the reactively sputtered coatings are believed to result in a smaller NbCx grain size compared to the non-reactively sputtered coatings (reactive process: 10–3 nm, non-reactive process: ~ 75–3 nm). This difference results in a thinner a-C matrix of about 0.2 nm, which is not varying with C content for the reactively sputtered coatings. The thinner a-C matrix is reflected in coating properties, with a higher conductivity and slightly higher hardness. The coating richest in C content (C/Nb ratio 1.59) shows the lowest friction (0.23), wear rate (0.17 × 10− 6 mm3/mN), and contact resistance before (11 mΩ at 10 N) and after (30 mΩ at 10 N) the chemical stability test. These results imply that nc-NbCx/a-C coatings of this composition are a good candidate for electrical contact applications, and that up-scaling of the process is achievable.