Superhard Rhenium Diboride Films: Preparation and Characterization

Recently, the superhardness of rhenium diboride was discovered. This study presents a first successful preparation and characterization of thin ReB 2 films. The films were deposited by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The morphology, microstructure, and hardness of the films were investigated. The films are compact and continuous, with a preferred (002) orientation. The composite Vickers hardness of the film−substrate systems was measured, and the intrinsic hardness of the films was separated using an area law-of-mixtures approach taking into account the indentation size effect. The obtained films are found to be superhard: the intrinsic film hardness value (52 GPa) is close to that of the ReB 2 bulk.