Atomic-Force Microscopy in the Study of the Tribological Characteristics of Thin Al−Si−N Coatings

Results of the atomic-force microscopic determination of the surface microstructure and roughness, friction forces and coefficients of nanocrystalline AlSiN films in the initial state and after annealing are presented. A procedure is proposed to determine the friction coefficients by atomic-force microscopy with multi-pass scanning. The dependences of the friction coefficients on the number of passes are obtained. A significant effect of annealing on a decrease in the friction coefficients of AlSiN films is detected.