There is a great need for hardened surfaces to minimize corrosion, a major source of energy loss, in a number of areas of interest to the Department of Energy including engines, cutting and machine tools, and micromachined sensors and actuators. Improved surface hardening processes that are environmentally attractive and allow for flexible control of surface structure and chemistry would substantially enhance the use of this technology. Because current thin film deposition processes have extremely low deposition rates or fail to produce films of sufficient quality, there is a need for large area, high deposition rate sources and deposition processes suitable for commercial production of hard films such as cubic boron nitride (cBN). This project will develop such a cBN deposition process using a novel microwave plasma-based approach that has a significant advantage over current processes and would be commercially attractive. In Phase I, a novel High Density Plasma Vapor Deposition (HDPVD) source will be used to apply at a high rate, a uniform layer of cBN on a substrate. This process will be optimized, the films will be tested for hardness, adhesion and cBN content, and the results fed back for process improvements.Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee:Primary impact is expected on machining costs of automotive and heavy industrial machinery. Cubic Boron Nitride tribological properties are expected to impact pump seal markets, reducing energy wasted on heat generation in millions of rotating pump seals, as well as fugitive emissions and leaks. As a high mobility, wide bang-gap semiconductor, cBN films may impact additional large markets in electronics and optical coatings.
