Abstract
We fabricated dispersed C_<60> molecules/A1 nano-composite thin films using by a conventional vacuum evaporation method. The microstructural characterization of the films obtained clarified the uniform dispersion of C_<60> molecules in Al based film. Nano-indentation hardness of Al-1.0 wt.% C_<60> film showed increase up to 3 times larger than that of Al film. These results clearly indicated that dispersion of C_<60> molecules in the conventional films contributes to drastic improvement in mechanical properties. In this study, we focused on conventional high hardness TiN films fabricated using by RF magnetron sputtering method. For the purpose of evaporating C_<60> molecules, the heating evaporator was equipped directly below the substrate of existing RF magnetron sputtering chamber due to prevent from the influence of plasma. It was possible to control the deposition rates of two kinds of evaporation sources to become the predetermined compositions separately. C_<60>/TiN films with constant thickness of 100 nm were deposited on Si(100) water-cooled substrates using by the RF magnetron sputtering deposition method for 30 minutes. X-ray diffraction showed TiN crystalline structure, and FT-IR analysis clarified the existence of C_<60> molecules contained in TiN films for all composite films. Nano-indentation studies showed that the hardness of the composite film of TiN-2.0 wt.% C_<60> showed the maximum hardness of 18 GPa and this value was increased up to 30 % larger than that of TiN film.
