STRESS AND ADHESION OF CHROMIUM AND BORON FILMS DEPOSITED UNDER ION-BOMBARDMENT

Ion irradiation during deposition strongly influences the stress state of thin films. Tensile stress can be turned into compressive stress. With an appropriate ion-to-atom arrival ratio films with zero stress can be deposited. Cr and B films which usually show high tensile stress values were formed by evaporation under bombardment with Ar ions in the energy range of 3 to 15 keV. The dependency of the resulting stress states on process parameters such as ion energy, ion-to-atom-ratio and residual gas pressure is discussed and compared with findings of other authors. First results on the influence of ion beam modified stress state on the tribo-adhesive behaviour of coatings using the scratch test are presented.