| Summary: | VCN–Cu films with different Cu contents were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering technique. The films were evaluated in terms of their microstructure, elemental composition, mechanical, and tribological properties by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Raman spectrometry, nano-indentation, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Bruker three-dimensional (3D) profiler, and high-temperature ball on disc tribo-meter. The results showed that face-centered cubic (fcc) VCN, hexagonal close-packed (hcp) V2CN, fcc-Cu, amorphous graphite and CNx phases co-existed in VCN–Cu films. After doping with 0.6 at.% Cu, the hardness reached a maximum value of ~32 GPa. At room temperature (RT), the friction coefficient and wear rate increased with increasing Cu content. In the temperature range of 100–500 °C, the friction coefficient decreased, but the wear rate increased with the increase of Cu content.
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