Hard nanostructured coatings are widely used in machine, maritime, nuclear, hydrogen fuel cell fields due to their good hardness, toughness, electrical conductivity, and wear and corrosion resistance. However, their performance and lifetime are strongly depended on chemical composition, microstructure and preparation techniques. Hence, high-performance transition metal nitrides, oxides, amorphous carbon-based coatings deposited by high power impulse magnetron sputtering and deep oscillation magnetron sputtering are summarized to explore the effects of micro-pulses on wear, corrosion and radiation resistance and high electrical conductivity, as well as related mechanism and applications of hard yet tough coatings, superhard yet tough coatings and superthick coatings.
 

HiPIMS,DOMS,Functional hard coatings