Improved adhesion of a-C and a-C:H films with a CrC interlayer on 16MnCr5 by HiPIMS-pretreatment

摘要

Ensuring a high adhesion of amorphous carbon films to steel substrates remains a challenging task, sustaining continuous research efforts to improve the adhesion strength. Besides the interlayer system and the substrate material, surface pretreatments have a significant impact on the adhesion behavior. Within this context, the influence of the High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) pretreatment on the adhesion of magnetron sputtered hydrogenfree (a-C) and hydrogenated (a-C:H) amorphous carbon films with a chromium carbide (CrC) interlayer on 16MnCr5 steel is investigated. The plasma treatment consisted of 30 min Ar ion etching as well as a sequential 5 min of HiPIMS-pretreatment with a Cr cathode. Subsequently this pretreatment was compared to a procedure without utilizing the HiPIMS technique. The impact of the HiPIMS-pretreatment on the structure of the film was systematically analyzed by taking the CrC interlayer as well as the entire film structure into consideration.