Abstract The relatively high toughness, high adhesion to steel, and low internal stress of hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H) films containing Ag make them good candidate materials for various applications in sensors, tribology, and biomaterials; however, the relatively low hardness and poor tribological properties in oxidizing environments hinder their broad use. Incorporating a small amount of Si in Ag/a-C:H films may modify the film microstructure and, in turn, improve their mechanical and tribological properties. To test this hypothesis, Ag/Si/a-C:H films were synthesized by magnetron sputtering and their microstructure, composition, and mechanical/tribological properties were examined with various microanalysis techniques and mechanical testing methods. The Si content of the films was varied by controlling the rotational speed of the substrate. It is shown that the incorporation of Si in the films increases the sp 3 C, sp 3 CH, and sp 3 CH2 contents, slightly roughens the film surface, and greatly improves the mechanical and tribological properties through the formation of a SiC phase. The results of this study also show that there is a critical Si content for optimal tribological properties.

中文翻译：

---

Si对Ag/aC:H薄膜微观结构和机械摩擦学性能的影响

摘要 含银的氢化非晶碳 (aC:H) 薄膜具有较高的韧性、对钢的高附着力和低内应力，使其成为传感器、摩擦学和生物材料等各种应用的理想候选材料。然而，在氧化环境中相对较低的硬度和较差的摩擦学性能阻碍了它们的广泛应用。在 Ag/aC:H 薄膜中加入少量 Si 可以改变薄膜的微观结构，进而改善其机械和摩擦学性能。为了验证这一假设，通过磁控溅射合成了 Ag/Si/aC:H 薄膜，并使用各种微量分析技术和机械测试方法检查了它们的微观结构、成分和机械/摩擦学性能。通过控制衬底的旋转速度来改变膜的Si含量。结果表明，Si 在薄膜中的加入增加了 sp 3 C、sp 3 CH 和 sp 3 CH2 的含量，使薄膜表面略微粗糙，并通过形成 SiC 相大大提高了机械和摩擦学性能。该研究的结果还表明，对于最佳摩擦学性能，存在临界 Si 含量。