The filtered arc process and materials deposition

Compound materials have been synthesised by reactive filtered arc deposition using both single and multi-elemental cathodes. Specifically, hard coatings of Al-SiOx and Al-SiNx have been deposited with refractive indices n550 of 1.65 and 2.20, respectively. The indentation hardness of Al-SiNx coatings was 22 GPa. In addition, Al-SiNx has been mixed with TiNx by a dual filtered arc method to produce nanocomposite TiAlSiNx films. Hard coatings of NbC and NbN have been synthesised by reactive deposition in methane and nitrogen, respectively, to produce hardness values in excess of 40 GPa. NbN/Ni nanocomposite coatings were deposited with a hardness of 63 GPa.