Comparative Study of DC and RF Sputtered MoSe2 Coatings Containing Carbon—An Approach to Optimize Stoichiometry, Microstructure, Crystallinity and Hardness
Source abstract
Abstract
Low stoichiometry, low crystallinity, low hardness and incongruencies involving the reported microstructure have limited the applicability of TMD-C (Transition metal dichalcogenides with carbon) solid-lubricant coatings. In this work, optimized Mo–Se–C coatings were deposited using confocal plasma magnetron sputtering to overcome the above-mentioned issues. Two different approaches were used; MoSe2 target powered by DC (direct current) or RF (radio frequency) magnetron sputtering. Carbon was always added by DC magnetron sputtering. Wavelength dispersive spectroscopy displayed Se/Mo stoichiometry of ~2, values higher than the literature. The Se/Mo ratio for RF-deposited coatings was lower than for their DC counterparts. Scanning electron microscopy showed that irrespective of the low carbon additions, the Mo–Se–C coatings were highly compact with no vestiges of columnar growth due to optimal bombardment of sputtered species. Application of substrate bias further improved compactness at the expense of lower Se/Mo ratio. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of MoSe2 crystals, and (002) basal planes. Even very low carbon additions led to an improvement of the hardness of the coatings. The work reports a comparison between RF and DC sputtering of MoSe2 coatings with carbon and provides a guideline to optimize the composition, morphology, structure, and mechanical properties.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Metal and Thin Film Mechanics · Diamond and Carbon-based Materials Research · Lubricants and Their Additives
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
IPN—LED & MAT—Instituto Pedro Nunes, Laboratory of Tests, Wear and Materials, Rua Pedro Nunes, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal
SEG-CEMMPRE, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua Luís Reis Santos, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal
Department of Control Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Technická 2, 6 Prague, Czech Republic
nCATS, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK
Funding
European Commission
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