Mechanical and tribological properties of CdO + SnO2 thin films prepared by sol–gel

We report the mechanical and tribological properties of transparent conductive oxide CdO + SnO2 coatings. The films were deposited on glass substrates by the sol–gel technique using, as precursor solution, a mixture of CdO and SnO2 solutions obtained at room temperature. Depending on the Sn atomic concentration percentage values the X-ray diffraction patterns show three types of films constituted of (1) CdO + Cd2SnO4, (2) Cd2SnO4 and (3) Cd2SnO4 + CdSnO3 crystals. Reciprocal microfriction tests revealed that films with Cd2SnO4 phase have friction values in the range 0.48–0.51 and a low wear rate of ~5 × 10−5 mm3 N−1 m−1. Nanoindentation tests have shown an increment of the elastic modulus from 50 GPa for CdO + Cd2SnO4 films to 90 GPa for Cd2SnO4 films, while the hardest coating was the one constituted by Cd2SnO4 crystals with H = 5.7 GPa, comparable to the hardness and elastic modulus reported for ITO films.