Structural, morphological, chemical and tribological investigations of sputter deposited MoSx/metal multilayer coatings

Pure MoSx as well as MoSx/Pb and MoSx/Ti nanometer-scale multilayers with individual layer thickness in the 4-100 nm range, have been prepared by magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The effects of changing the number of interfaces and the effects of changing the percentage of metal (i.e. metal layer thickness) have been investigated using X-ray diffraction and reflection, AFM and XPS. Some of these multilayer films showed significantly superior tribological performance compared to pure MoSx with pin-on-disk tribometer sliding wear tests in 50% relative humidity air. Both multilayer periodicity and the metal content of the films are shown to alter the MoSx microstructure and results are presented indicating how this in turn may influence the tribological performance of the films. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.