coatings Article Mechanical Properties and Diffusion Barrier Performance of CrWN Coatings Fabricated through Hybrid HiPIMS/RFMS Li-Chun Chang 1,2,*, Cheng-En Wu 1 and Tzu-Yu Ou 1 1 Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 24301, Taiwan;
[email protected] (C.-E.W.);
[email protected] (T.-Y.O.) 2 Center for Plasma and Thin Film Technologies, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 24301, Taiwan * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +886-2-2908-9899 Abstract: CrWN coatings were fabricated through a hybrid high-power impulse magnetron sputter- ing/radio-frequency magnetron sputtering technique. The phase structures, mechanical properties, and tribological characteristics of CrWN coatings prepared with various nitrogen flow ratios (f N2s) were investigated. The results indicated that the CrWN coatings prepared at f N2 levels of 0.1 and 0.2 exhibited a Cr2N phase, whereas the coatings prepared at fN2 levels of 0.3 and 0.4 exhibited a CrN phase. These CrWN coatings exhibited hardness values of 16.7–20.2 GPa and Young’s modulus levels of 268–296 GPa, which indicated higher mechanical properties than those of coatings with similar residual stresses prepared through conventional direct current magnetron sputtering. Face- centered cubic (fcc) Cr51W2N47 coatings with a residual stress of −0.53 GPa exhibited the highest wear and scratch resistance. Furthermore, the diffusion barrier performance of fcc CrWN films on Cu metallization was explored, and they exhibited excellent barrier characteristics up to 650 ◦C. Citation: Chang, L.-C.; Wu, C.-E.; Ou, T.-Y.