Changing of the Interfacial Contacts and Shear Behaviors between a-C Films Caused by Si Doping

SF Lu and FL Duan, LANGMUIR, 39, 9725-9733 (2023).

DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c00764

We used reactive molecular dynamics (ReaxFF-MD) to simulatethefriction and shear behavior of a-C:Si films with varying Si content(0-20 at%). We found that the optimal doping content was 7.2at%, which had similar friction to the undoped film but had smallerwear and running-in time (40 and 60% of the undoped film, respectively).Compared with the undoped film, the proper amount of Si doping significantlyinhibited the formation of all-C bridging chains at the interfaceand prevented the formation of a large number of all-C and Si-involvedbridging chains caused by surface dangling bonds at higher Si contents.Our study revealed the atomic scale mechanism of Si doping on thetribological properties of a-C films.

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