“…At the present time, the most general approach of modifying DLC thin films through the incorporation of metallic elements (Me-DLC), including Ti, Zr, Ni, Ag, Cr, Al, etc, which can reduce the internal stress to improve the adhesion, mechanical, and tribological properties, has gained increasing attention as an expanding area of applied materials [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Among those doping metals, carbide formers (MeC), like Ti [24,25], Cr [26,27], and Zr [28,29], can exist as either metallic clusters dissolving in DLC thin films or metal carbide phases embedding in the carbon matrix, which significantly influence the mechanical and tribological properties as well as relatively lower internal stress than that of pure DLC thin films.…”