Composition and mechanical properties of B-C-W and B-C-Ti thin films prepared by pulse magnetron sputtering

The hardness and the Young's modulus of the layers have been determined by nanoindentation. Whereas the majority of coatings exhibits hardness around 20 GPa or lower, maximum hardness of 28 GPa and Young's modulus of 420 GPa are observed in a certain compositional range, in which coatings also distinguish by good thermal stability. Their composition has been analysed by using optical glow discharge emission spectroscopy (GD-OES) and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS).