Mechanical Properties of Diamond-Like Silicon–Carbon Films Doped with Vanadium

The influence of doping with vanadium on the mechanical properties of nanocomposite films deposited on silicon substrates has been investigated. It is found that the material tested is more likely brittle rather than plastic and that the hardness and elastic modulus of an undoped film are somewhat higher than those of vanadium-doped ones. With an increase in the Poisson ratio from 0.2 to 0.3, the hardness HIT of undoped sample increases by 14%, and the elastic modulus EIT decreases by 3.5%. Doping films with vanadium leads to a monotonic decrease in the elastic modulus EIT. The concentration dependence of microhardness HIT is complex: its minimum is observed at 8.8 at % V. It is established that the parameter of relative elastic strain energy of samples under indentation under investigation (ηIT) depends only slightly on film’s Poisson ratio.