Electrical resistivity and mechanical properties of nitrogen-containing diamondlike carbon/tungsten and nitrogen-containing diamondlike carbon/tungsten carbide multilayer films prepared under low substrate temperature

Nitrogen-containing diamondlike carbon (N-DLC) films are excellent surface protection films with high wear resistance and low electrical resistivity. In this paper, N-DLC/tungsten (W) and N-DLC/tungsten carbide (WC) multilayer films with low-electrical-resistance layers formed between N-DLC layers are presented. W or WC layers were formed as a low-electrical-resistance layer using unbalanced magnetron sputtering methods at a low substrate temperature. N-DLC layers were fabricated by the T-shape filtered arc deposition method. The N-DLC/WC multilayer films showed higher polishing resistance compared with the N-DLC single-layer films, and the electrical resistivity of the multilayer films was about half compared with single-layer films. The high polishing resistance of the multilayer films was considered to be due to the WC layers acting as a hard layer and the N-DLC layers acting as a cushion layer to absorb the film load.Nitrogen-containing diamondlike carbon (N-DLC) films are excellent surface protection films with high wear resistance and low electrical resistivity. In this paper, N-DLC/tungsten (W) and N-DLC/tungsten carbide (WC) multilayer films with low-electrical-resistance layers formed between N-DLC layers are presented. W or WC layers were formed as a low-electrical-resistance layer using unbalanced magnetron sputtering methods at a low substrate temperature. N-DLC layers were fabricated by the T-shape filtered arc deposition method. The N-DLC/WC multilayer films showed higher polishing resistance compared with the N-DLC single-layer films, and the electrical resistivity of the multilayer films was about half compared with single-layer films. The high polishing resistance of the multilayer films was considered to be due to the WC layers acting as a hard layer and the N-DLC layers acting as a cushion layer to absorb the film load.