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Stiction and friction are of concern for the reliable, long-term application of Ni-alloy micromachines. We have found that the application of a 30 - 70 nm hard carbon coating produces a significant reduction in the friction coefficient and wear rate of electroformed Ni substrates in reciprocating sliding contact under simulated MEMS operating conditions. To evaluate the performance of coated components, a series of 70-μm-thick microgears ranging in diameter from 0.2 to 2.2 mm were fabricated from electroformed Ni via standard LIGA processes and fixtured on posts in preparation for the coating procedure. A pulsed vacuumarc deposition process was used to deposit a carbon coating on the gears with the plasma incident at a shallow angle to the gears' top surface. A sample bias of −2 keV was used in order to produce a coating with relatively low stress and good adhesion while maintaining high hardness. This coating process is known to be somewhat comformal to the component surfaces. The coating uniformity, particularly in the high-aspect-ratio areas between the gear teeth, was evaluated with micro-Raman spectroscopy. It is shown that the coating can be applied uniformly on the top gear surface. Between the gear teeth the coating was the same thickness as on top of the gear down to a point 50 μm below the top surface. Below that point (i.e. between 50 and 70 μm), the coating thickness is somewhat thinner, but is still present. These results demonstrate that it is possible to a deposit hard carbon coating on microgears to reduce friction and wear in micromachines.

Oxygen-active elements such as Y, Zr and Hf are added to alumina-forming alloys to improve the adhesion of the external α-Al2O3 scale formed during high temperature oxidation. During oxidation at 1000°-1500°C, many such elements are observed to diffuse from the alloy through the scale and form oxide particles at the scale-gas interface. Once nucleated, the volume fraction of these particles increases with oxidation temperature and time. The continued increase in volume fraction with time suggests that diffusion is not merely driven by a concentration gradient of the oxygen-active elements. Pre-coating with a dense, 1 μm-thick, plasma-deposited alumina layer prior to oxidation did not prevent the nucleation and growth of these types of particles at the gas interface of the coating. The driving force for this diffusion phenomenon is attributed to the oxygen potential gradient across the metal-oxide-gas system and the high oxygen affinity of these elements.

Energetic particle methods have been used to synthesize two metastable layers with superior mechanical properties: amorphous Ni implanted with overlapping Ti and C, and amorphous diamond-like carbon (DLC) formed by vacuum-arc deposition or pulsed laser deposition. Elastic modulus, yield stress and hardness were reliably determined for both materials by fitting finiteelement simulations to the observed layer/substrate responses during nanoindentation. Both materials show exceptional properties, i.e., the yield stress of amorphous Ni(Ti,C) exceeds that of hardened steels and other metallic glasses, and the hardness of DLC (up to 88 GPa) approaches that of crystalline diamond (∼100 GPa). Tribological performance of the layers during unlubricated sliding contact appears favorable for treating Ni-based micro-electromechanical systems: stick-slip adhesion to Ni is eliminated, giving a low coefficient of friction (∼0.3–0.2) and greatly reduced wear. We discuss how energetic particle synthesis is critical to forming these phases and manipulating their properties for optimum performance.

We present a methodology based on finite-element modeling of nanoindentation data to extract reliable and accurate mechanical properties from thin, hard films and surface-modified layers on softer substrates. The method deduces the yield stress, Young's modulus, and hardness from indentations as deep as 50% of the layer thickness.

Fired rails from electromagnetic railguns show severe damage from arcing and tribological mismatch. We have fabricated and studied several different nanoscale multilayered materials as possible routes to improve the thermal transport and thermomechanical properties of the rail and armature materials. A vacuum-arc-based plasma deposition technique with wide control of ion energy was used for the film synthesis, and high-energy high-dose (energy up to ˜ 150 keV, dose up to ˜ 1 × 1017cm−2) metal ion implantation was also used. The multilayered film structures formed and investigated included sublayers of Ti, TiCo, ZrN, TaN and dlc (diamond-like carbon) in the following combinations: (i) ZrN on TiCo on TaN on dlc on a Cu substrate, (ii) ZrN on TiCo on TaN on dlc on an Al substrate, (iii) TiN on TiCo on TaN on a stainless steel substrate, and (iv) Ti on TiCo on a stainless steel substrate. Individual sublayer film thickness was in the range of 400Å-7μ. The surfaces were characterized by SEM, TEM, RBS, high energy electron diffraction, arid microhardness measurements. Significant improvements in the material surface properties were obtained for virtually all of the surface structures investigated. Here we outline the material synthesis and surface modification techniques used and the materials characterization results obtained.

Diamond-like carbon films with mechanical properties approaching those of diamond have been consistently produced by cathodic vacuum arc based techniques. These films have been successfully used in applications where enhanced hardness and wear resistance are required Such DLC films have two major drawbacks that prevent their application in other areas: a high level of internal stresses, which promotes failure by spallation of thick films; and the loss of mechanical properties at temperatures higher than 300°C. In this paper we describe the effect of doping elements on the room-temperature mechanical properties and on the thermal stability of DLC films upon annealing in air. The effect of the presence of W and Ti was investigated and compared to pure DLC. The films were produced by dual-source metal plasma immersion ion implantation and deposition with magnetic filtering to remove macroparticles from the plasma; dopant content was controlled by varying the relative pulse duration of the two plasma sources. Microstructural and chemical characterization of the films are presented.

Vacuum-arc deposition is used to deposit multilayer carbon films by modulating the sample bias during deposition. The effect of varying the sublayer thickness in multilayer films consisting of alternating layers of “hard” (68.4 GPa, -100 V bias) and “soft” (27.5 GPa, -2000 V bias) was investigated. Films consisting of equal thickness layers of hard and soft material and an individual layer thickness varying from 10 to 35 nm were deposited. Mechanical property measurements were obtained by finite element modeling of nanoindentation load-displacement curves. The film hardness values were about 20% below the average of the component layers and relatively independent of the layer thickness. TEM investigation revealed deterioration of the multilayer structure when the sublayer thickness was below 15 nm due to implantation damage of the hard layers caused by the energetic C+ ions of the soft layers (-2000 V bias) deposited over them. Pin-on-disk wear tests show that the wear rate drops when sublayer thickness is decreased below 20 nm and remains constant with further decreases in the layer thickness.

We have used pulsed vacuum arc deposition to prepare TixCy films and multilayer structures of TixCy / diamondlike carbon (DLC) in a dual plasma source set-up. The composition of the monolithic films was controlled by varying the pulse duration of each plasma gun. During the deposition, a repetitively pulsed bias voltage was applied to the substrate in order to improve the adhesion to the substrate and between the individual layers. For the multilayers, the carbon and Ti guns were synchronously pulsed during deposition of the TixCy, and the Ti gun was not operated during the DLC deposition. Multilayers with different periodicities were synthesized. The deposited films were analyzed by various techniques including XPS, AES, TEM, EELS, and XRD to characterize the composition, bonding states, and microstructure. Special attention was given to the interface thickness in relation to the applied bias voltage. Tribological properties such as friction coefficient and wear resistance were measured, and correlated to the composition and microstructure of the films.

Diamondlike carbon (DLC) thin films have been widely used as hard coatings in a variety of applications where increased wear resistance and hardness are required. Vacuum arc DLC films are among the hardest, with measured hardness values of up to 68 GPa. In our deposition process a repetitively pulsed bias voltage is applied to the substrate, which controls the energy of the incoming C ions. DLC chemical and mechanical properties are strongly affected by the energy of the depositing ions. In this paper, we relate the mechanical properties of these films to the deposition parameters, and describe our initial Brillouin scattering measurements of the elastic constants of monolithic DLC films. Evidence for bulk longitudinal and surface Rayleigh excitation in films with thickness of 50 and 500 nm has been observed. Since the DLC films are amorphous, they are modeled as isotropic solids and the elastic constants CII and C44 are derived.

Ion implantation by intense beams of metal ions can be accomplished using the dense metal plasma formed in a vacuum arc discharge embodied either in a vacuum arc ion source or in a ‘metal plasma immersion’ configuration. In the former case high energy metal ion beams are formed and implantation is done in a more-or-less conventional way, and in the latter case the substrate is immersed in the plasma and repetitively pulse-biased so as to accelerate the ions at the high voltage plasma sheath formed at the substrate. A number of advances have been made in the last few years, both in plasma technology and in the surface modification procedures, that enhance the effectiveness and versatility of the methods, including for example: controlled increase of the ion charge states produced; operation in a dual metal-gaseous ion species mode; very large area beam formation; macroparticle filtering; and the development of processing regimes for optimizing adhesion, morphology and structure. These complementary ion processing techniques provide the plasma tools for doing ion surface modification over a very wide parameter regime, from ‘pure’ ion implantation at energies approaching the MeV level, through ion mixing at energies in the ∼1 to ∼100 keV range, to IBAD-like processing at energies from a few tens of eV to a few keV. Here we review the methods, describe a number of recent developments, and outline some of the surface modification applications to which the methods have been put.

An evaluation of the use of intermediate layers for promoting adhesion between diamond and Fe and Ni base alloys is presented. The lack of adhesion between diamond and such alloys has prevented its use as a protective coating in applications at intermediate temperatures. In this study we use a combination of plasma assisted deposition techniques together with controlled bias of the substrate in order to deposit intermediate layers, and simultaneously achieve a thorough intermixing of the elements at the interface, in order to increase the adhesion between the layers. We have compared the performance of different carbide forming metals, as well as other materials. Properties considered in the selection of the appropriate intermediate layers are: chemical affinity with carbon, thermal expansion coefficient, mechanical properties, and adhesion to diamond and to the base metal as well. In the case of multiple layers, adhesion strength was measured after every new layer was deposited, in order to identify any weak links of the composite structure. Transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the microstructure and phases. An analysis is provided of the resulting performance on the basis of the microstructure.