Effects of Co-Sputtered Nickel in Different Atmospheres

Further work was carried out with 3% - 5% of co-sputtered nickel to evaluate the effects of film thickness and test speed and load. He found that the life of a co-sputtered film increased almost linearly with coating thickness, while that of a conventional film reached a maximum at a thickness of about 4000 nm (40,000A), These are far thicker than coatings described by other authors. A comparison of life 

In general the effect of co-sputtered metals seems to be to increase film density and hardness, as well as modifying molybdenum disulphide crystal size. The increase in density may have some beneficial effect by reducing penetration of oxygen or water vapour into the bulk of the coating, but otherwise there is no 

Ion bombardment can be used in several different ways to alter the properties of sputter-deposited coatings. The simplest of these is unbalanced magnetron sputtering. 

An alternative is to carry out post-deposition bombardment of a sputter-deposited coating. This provides great flexibility by the selection of ion beam power and ion composition. A general result of the process is increased coating density and improved performance in humid air. 

Hirvonen and co-workers reported that high-energy neon ion bombardment resulted in amorphization of the crystal structure and increased film hardness. However, the friction remained low, and this suggests that the amorphous coating readily recrystallised with basal plane orientation under a sliding stress. 

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Table 10.3 Effects of Co-Sputtered Nickel in Different Atmospheres (Ref.287)...

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