Abstract
Superhard and elastic carbon nitride films with hardness and elastic recovery of 47 GPa and 87.5%, respectively, were synthesized by using a double-bend filtered cathodic vacuum arc combined with radio-frequency nitrogen ion beam source. The bombardment of energetic nitrogen atom onto the growing film surface results in the high atomic ratio of N/C (0.4), which contributes to the high sp2 content and the formation of a five-membered ring structure in the carbon nitride film at room temperature. The buckling of the five-membered ring basal planes may facilitate cross-linking between the planes through sp3 coordinated carbon atoms. A rigid three-dimensional network is formed, which contributes to the high hardness and elastic recovery of the deposited films.
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Cheng, Y.H., Tay, B.K., Lau, S.P. et al. Synthesis of Superhard and Elastic Carbon Nitride Films by Filtered Cathodic Vacuum arc Combined with Radio Frequency Ion Beam Source. Journal of Materials Research 17, 521–524 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2002.0072
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2002.0072