Nano-indentation studies of hard coatings prepared by laser ablation

Pulsed laser deposition technique has been used to deposit high quality thin film coatings of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and titanium nitride (TiN) on Si (100) substrates. The mechanical properties (modulus and hardness) of these films were characterized by nano-indentation. The best crystalline quality of all films have shown the superior mechanical properties. The films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, atomic force microscope, Raman spectroscopic and FTIR techniques. Correlations of the pulsed laser deposition parameters with the properties of deposited hard coatings have been discussed in this paper.