| 1. |
- Andersson, Matilda, et al.
(författare)
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Deposition and characterization of magnetron sputtered amorphous Cr-C films
- 2012
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Ingår i: Vacuum. - : Elsevier BV. - 0042-207X .- 1879-2715. ; 86:9, s. 1408-1416
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Thin films in the Cr-C system with carbon content of 25-85 at.% have been deposited using non-reactive DC magnetron sputtering from elemental targets. Analyses with X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirm that the films are completely amorphous. Also, annealing experiment show that the films had not crystallized at 500 degrees C. Furthermore, X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy show that the films consist of two phases, an amorphous CrCx phase and an amorphous carbon (a-C) phase. The presence of two amorphous phases is also supported by the electrochemical analysis, which shows that oxidation of both chromium and carbon contributes to the total current in the passive region. The relative amounts of these amorphous phases influence the film properties. Typically, lower carbon content with less a-C phase leads to harder films with higher Young's modulus and lower resistivity. The results also show that both films have lower currents in the passive region compared to the uncoated 316L steel substrate. Finally, our results were compared with literature data from both reactively and non-reactively sputtered chromium carbide films. The comparison reveals that non-reactive sputtering tend to favour the formation of amorphous films and also influence e.g. the sp(2)/sp(3) ratio of the a-C phase.
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| 2. |
- Broitman, Esteban, et al.
(författare)
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Structural and Mechanical Properties of CNx and CPx Thin Solid Films
- 2012
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Ingår i: Key Engineering Materials. - : Trans Tech Publications. - 1013-9826 .- 1662-9795. ; 488-489, s. 581-584
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The inherent resiliency, hardness and relatively low friction coefficient of the fullerene-like (FL) allotrope of carbon nitride (CNx) thin solid films give them potential in numerous tribological applications. In this work, we study the substitution of N with P to grow FL-CPx to achieve better cross- and inter-linking of the graphene planes, improving thus the materials mechanical and tribological properties. The CNx and CPx films have been synthesized by DC magnetron sputtering. HRTEM have shown the CPx films exhibit a short range ordered structure with FL characteristics for substrate temperature of 300 degrees C and for a phosphorus content of 10-15 at.%. These films show better mechanical properties in terms of hardness and resiliency compared to those of the FL-CNx films. The low water adsorption of the films is correlated to the theoretical prediction for low density of dangling bonds in both, CNx and CPx. First-principles calculations based on Density Functional Theory (DFT) were performed to provide additional insight on the structure and bonding in CNx, CPx and a-C compounds.
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| 3. |
- Broitman, E, et al.
(författare)
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Water adsorption on fullerene-like carbon nitride overcoats
- 2008
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Ingår i: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier BV. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 517:3, s. 1106-1110
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humidity influences the tribological performance of the head-disk interface in magnetic data storage devices. In this work we compare the uptake of water of amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) films, widely used as protective overcoats in computer disk drive systems, with fullerene-like carbon nitride (FL-CNx) and amorphous carbon (a-C) films. Films with thickness in the range 10-300 run were deposited on quartz crystal substrates by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. A quartz crystal microbalance placed in a vacuum chamber was used to measure the water adsorption. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) has been used to correlate water adsorption with film microstructure and surface defects (dangling bonds). Measurements indicate that the amount of adsorbed water is highest for the pure a-C films and that the FL-CNx films adsorbed less than a-CNx. EPR data correlate the lower water adsorption on FL-CNx films with a possible lack of dangling bonds on the film surface. To provide additional insight into the atomic structure of defects in the FL-CNx, a-CNx and a-C compounds, we performed first-principles calculations within the framework of Density Functional Theory. Emphasis was put on the energy cost for formation of vacancy defects and dangling bonds in relaxed systems. Cohesive energy comparison reveals that the energy cost formation for dangling bonds in different configurations is considerably higher in FL-CNx than for the amorphous films. These simulations thus confirm the experimental results showing that dangling bonds are much less likely in FL-CNx than in a-CNx and a-C films.
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| 4. |
- Broitman, E., et al.
(författare)
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Water adsorption on lubricated fullerene-like CNx films
- 2006
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Ingår i: Thin Solid Films. - : Elsevier BV. - 0040-6090 .- 1879-2731. ; 515:3, s. 979-983
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Humidity influences the tribological performance of the head–disk interface in magnetic data storage devices. In this work we compare the uptake of water of amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-CHy) and carbon nitride (a-CNx) films, widely used as protective overcoats in computer disk drive systems, with two types of amorphous non-hydrogenated carbon (a-C and a-Csp2) films, and fullerene-like carbon nitride (FL-CNx) films. Carbon films were deposited on quartz crystal substrates by reactive dc magnetron sputtering in Ar/N2 discharges. After deposition, some of the films were coated with a 2-nm-thick layer of Z-tetraol, a lubricant used in hard disk devices. A quartz crystal microbalance placed in a vacuum chamber was used to measure the adsorption of water at room temperature and at pressures of water corresponding to relative humidities in the range RH = 0 to 90%. Water adsorption and desorption is fast, indicating that equilibrium with ambient humidity is reached on time scales of minutes, much faster than the time scales for fluctuations in ambient humidity. The amount of water adsorbed on the non-lubricated amorphous carbon films is significantly higher than that on the fullerene-like films. The presence of the lubricant influences water adsorption but its impact differs on different carbon films.
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| 5. |
- Broitman, E., et al.
(författare)
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Water adsorption on phosphorous-carbide thin films
- 2009
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Ingår i: Surface & Coatings Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0257-8972 .- 1879-3347. ; 204:6-7, s. 1035-1039
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amorphous phosphorous-carbide films have been considered as a new tribological coating material with unique electrical properties. However, such CPx films have not found practical use until now because they tend to oxidize/hydrolyze rapidly when in contact with air. Recently, we demonstrated that CPx thin films with a fullerene-like structure can be deposited by magnetron sputtering, whereby the structural incorporation of P atoms induces the formation of strongly bent and inter-linked graphene planes. Here, we compare the uptake of water in fullerene-like phosphorous-carbide (FL-CPx) thin films with that in amorphous phosphorous-carbide (a-CPx), and amorphous carbon (a-C) thin films. Films of each material were deposited on quartz crystal substrates by reactive DC magnetron sputtering to a thickness in the range 100-300 nm. The film microstructure was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. A quartz crystal microbalance placed in a vacuum chamber was used to measure their water adsorption. Measurements indicate that FL-CPx films adsorbed less water than the a-CPx and a-C ones. To provide additional insight into the atomic structure of defects in the FL-CPx and a-CPx compounds, we performed first-principles calculations within the framework of density functional theory. Cohesive energy comparison reveals that the energy cost formation for dangling bonds in different configurations is considerably higher in FL-CPx than for the amorphous films. Thus, the modeling confirms the experimental results that dangling bonds are less likely in FL-CPx than in a-CPx and a-C films.
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| 6. |
- Furlan, Andrej, et al.
(författare)
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Control of crystallinity in sputtered Cr–Ti–C films
- 2013
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Ingår i: Acta Materialia. - : Elsevier. - 1359-6454 .- 1873-2453. ; 61:17, s. 6352-6361
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The influence of Ti content on crystallinity and bonding of Cr–Ti–C thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering have been studied by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Our results show that binary Cr–C films without Ti exhibit an amorphous structure with two non-crystalline components; amorphous CrCx and amorphous C (a-C). The addition of 10–20 at.% Ti leads to the crystallization of the amorphous CrCx and the formation of a metastable cubic (Cr1−xTix)Cy phase. The observation was explained based on the tendency of the 3d transition metals to form crystalline carbide films. The mechanical properties of the films determined by nanoindentation and microindentation were found to be strongly dependent on the film composition in terms of hardness, elasticity modulus, hardness/elasticity ratio and crack development.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Furlan, Andrej, et al.
(författare)
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Crystallization characteristics and chemical bonding properties of nickel carbide thin film nanocomposites
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Physics. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0953-8984 .- 1361-648X. ; 26:41
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The crystal structure and chemical bonding of magnetron-sputtering deposited nickel carbide Ni1−xCx (0.05 ⩽ x⩽0.62) thin films have been investigated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and soft x-ray absorption spectroscopy. By using x-ray as well as electron diffraction, we found carbon-containing hcp-Ni (hcp-NiCy phase), instead of the expected rhombohedral-Ni3C. At low carbon content (4.9 at%), the thin film consists of hcp-NiCy nanocrystallites mixed with a smaller amount of fcc-NiCx. The average grain size is about 10–20 nm. With the increase of carbon content to 16.3 at%, the film contains single-phase hcp-NiCy nanocrystallites with expanded lattice parameters. With a further increase of carbon content to 38 at%, and 62 at%, the films transform to x-ray amorphous materials with hcp-NiCy and fcc-NiCx nanodomain structures in an amorphous carbon-rich matrix. Raman spectra of carbon indicate dominant sp2 hybridization, consistent with photoelectron spectra that show a decreasing amount of C–Ni phase with increasing carbon content. The Ni 3d–C 2p hybridization in the hexagonal structure gives rise to the salient double-peak structure in Ni 2p soft x-ray absorption spectra at 16.3 at% that changes with carbon content. We also show that the resistivity is not only governed by the amount of carbon, but increases by more than a factor of two when the samples transform from crystalline to amorphous.
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| 9. |
- Furlan, Andrej, 1974-
(författare)
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Experiments and Theoretical Modeling of Fullerene-like CNx and CPx Thin Film Structures
- 2007
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis concerns the materials science of carbon-based fullerene-like structures as a basis for the improvement of the applicability of FL-CNx protective thin films. In particular, structural origins of mechanical properties of FL-CNx coatings and water adsorption on their surface were investigated, both of which are critical parameters for their application as, e.g., computer hard disk protective coatings. Also, prospective FL-CPx structures were investigated by first-principles modeling. I present an introduction to theoretical methods used to study the effects of nitrogen and phosphorus as dopant elements. The modeling results include pure phosphorus clusters, mixed carbon-phosphorus clusters, and growth of fullerenelike phospho-carbide structures. Finally, I present some implications for the synthesis of FL-CPx thin films and the extension of the research to other dopant elements including sulphur, arsenic, and germanium.
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| 10. |
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