Dense and hard TiWC protective coatings grown with tungsten ion irradiation using WC-HiPIMS/TiC-DCMS co-sputtering technique without external heating

Titanium tungsten carbide (TiWC) coatings are deposited by a combined high-power impulse and dc magnetron co-sputtering (HiPIMS/DCMS) technique. No external heating is applied during deposition phase, instead, the thermally driven adatom mobility substituted heavy ion irradiation. DCMS sources equipped with titanium targets provide constant neutral fluxes to establish predominant coating structures, whereas target in HiPIMS mode serves as source of metal-ions. Substrate bias -60V synchronized W+ ion-rich time domains pulses minimize contribution from working gas ions. The influence flux intensity, controlled varying peak current density (JT), on film properties investigated. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveals presence over stoichiometric carbon forming an amorphous amount which can be fine-tuned JT. Changes composition function JT explained based in-situ mass analyses. Dense TiWC hybrid process exhibit hardness higher than 30 GPa, comparable films substrate heating. relative energy consumption reduced 77% compared high-temperature processing.