Processing and characterization of a multibeam sputtered nanocrystalline CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy film

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) is a well-known route for manufacturing hard coatings. In recent years, PVD has also been applied to create high-entropy alloy (HEA) thin films. HEAs are multicomponent alloys with nearly equal atomic fractions. To achieve the desired composition, typically alloy targets are used in the deposition process. The present work demonstrates that HEA thin films can also be processed using a multiple beam sputtering system in PVD, which does not require preliminary manufacturing of HEA targets, but rather uses commercially pure metal targets. The effectivity of this technique was demonstrated on a nanocrystalline CoCrNiFe HEA film with a thickness of about 1 μm. A part of the compositional gradient sample exhibited equal elemental fractions. The microstructure and the hardness of this part of the PVD film were studied in detail, and the results were compared with those obtained on a bulk nanocrystalline sample having the same chemical composition, but was prepared by the high pressure torsion (HPT) technique. The crystallite size and the texture were characterized by X-ray diffraction, while the hardness was measured by nanoindentation. The PVD film exhibited an exceptionally high hardness of 9.8 ± 0.3 GPa, a value that was notably higher than that determined for the HPT sample (7.3 ± 0.3 GPa). This study also demonstrated the capability of this new multiple beam sputtering technique for the production of compositional gradient samples with a wide range of elemental concentrations, enabling combinatorial analysis of multiple elements high-entropy alloy. •Combinatorial CoCrFeNi HEA thin film was processed by multi beam sputtering.•The used system does not require preliminary manufacturing of HEA targets.•The geometry of the sputtering system results in a well-defined component gradient.•The nanocrystalline HEA film has a higher hardness compared to its bulk counterpart.