Design of hard coatings deposited by HiPIMS and dcMS

Abstract Hard coatings are extensively used in various industries, including automotive, aerospace and tooling industries. Hard coatings are deposited using, typically, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. Among these, magnetron sputtering (MS) is widely used to deposit hard transition metal nitrides and oxides. In the last 20 years, technological development gave birth to a highly ionized magnetron sputtering technique called High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) that allows application tailored coating development. The present article reviews studies on the deposition of hard coatings by HiPIMS and direct current MS (dcMS). The effect of alloying and coating architecture design on mechanical properties is highlighted, and comparative studies highlighting the difference between the two techniques are reviewed, while the the effect of different HiPIMS deposition parameters on the mechanical properties of the coatings is presented and discussed.