Deposition of carbon nitride films for space application

Carbon nitride thin films were prepared by electron-beam evaporation assisted with nitrogen ion bombardment and TiN/CN_x composite films were by unbalanced dc magnetron sputtering, respectively. It was found that the sputtered films were better than the evaporated films in hardness and adhesion. The experiments of atomic oxygen action, cold welding, friction and wearing were emphasized, and the results proved that the sputtered TiN/CN_x composite films were suitable for space application.