VEGA 1/0296/22: Transition-metal diborides-based hard films prepared by advanced PVD methods

The thin films based on transition-metal diboride are a promising alternative to the nitride films, particularly in thermally and mechanically challenging applications. An extremely high hardness (> 40 GPa) andhigh-temperature chemical stability were achieved in binary diborides. However, their drawbacks are the inherently low toughness and lower oxidation resistance at high temperatures. The theoretical predictions and experimental approaches indicate that high hardness does not mean low toughness and proper alloying leads to increased oxidation resistance. In addition to high hardness, some diborides also have interesting tribological properties at high temperatures. The present project is based on new approaches to the preparation of hard and/or tribological nanostructured thin films by advanced physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods with a high ionization degree of sputtered material (HiPPIMS) or with a high density of working gas ions (HiTUS).