Effect of sputtering parameters on (AlCrMnMoNiZr)N films

To optimise the performance of high entropy alloy nitride films, (AlCrMnMoNiZr)N films were deposited through reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering at a certain N2/Ar flow ratios of 0·5. The effects of sputtering power and substrate temperature on the structure and properties of the films were investigated. Results showed that sputtering power had strong effects on the phase transformation from amorphous to face centred cubic solid solution structure with (200) preferred orientation. The films with coarsened grains had a higher hardness at high substrate temperature because of the inverse Hall–Petch effect. When the sputtering parameters were set at 250 W and 600 K, high hardness of 15–18 GPa and low friction coefficient of 0·12∼0·15 can be obtained. Therefore, the optimised parameters are 250 W and 600 K.