Influence of the Deposition Method on the Tribological Parameters of the Biocompatible Thin Films

Deposition of micro and nanostructured thin films is a solution for reducing the wear and increase the operational time for the biomedical implants' components. Tribological tests were performed to determine the friction coefficient and the wear rate of micro and nanostructured thin films deposited on M30NW steel and CoCr substrates by physical techniques. TiO2, TiN and CrN thin films with various thicknesses were deposited by DC sputtering, High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering and cathodic arc techniques. The quality of the deposited material and the dependence on the deposition technique was assessed by tribological characterization and the comparative analysis of the experimental results. TiN thin films deposited by cathodic arc, and TiO2 and CrN thin films deposited by DC sputtering, on both types of substrates, showed superior tribological parameters. After analyzing the data, it was concluded that DC sputtering is the most suited deposition method for this application.