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The ternary compound Ti 3 SiC 2 has a nanolaminated structure and belongs to the class of M nþ1 AX n phases. MAX phases have a high potential to be used as high temperature contacts on different substrates. They combine metallic and ceramic properties, like relative high electrical conductivity and high oxidation resistance, due to their nanolaminated structure. In the last 20 years there were several attempts to reduce the formation temperature of MAX phases by different sputtering techniques. Eklund et al. [1] mentioned that thin film processing and the growth of 3-1-2 MAX phases such as Ti 3 SiC 2 , Ti 3 GeC 2 and Ti 3 AlC 2 require high synthesis temperatures in the range of 800-1000 8C due to the diffusion length in large unit cells. In fact, Ti 3 SiC 2 thin films were synthesized by magnetron sputtering techniques from elemental targets (titanium, silicon, carbon, or evaporated C 60 ), but at relative high deposition temperatures in the range from 750 to 900 8C. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Furthermore, Ti 3 SiC 2 films deposited by magnetron sputtering by using a stoichiometric target showed good results concerning the phase formation in a temperature range of 850-900 8C. [5,8] These deposition temperatures are, however, relatively high and the exposure time for the substrate is about 1-5 h, depending on the deposition conditions and the used targets. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Other attempts of depositing thin films of MAX phases include the pulsed laser deposition from Cr 2 AlC-and Ti 3 SiC 2 -compound targets as shown by Lange et al. and Schaaf et al. [9][10][11] Due to the ability of this deposition technique to form particle species with higher energies and even to transfer complex target stoichiometries compared to the magnetron sputtering method, the pulsed laser deposition can decrease the formation temperature and a low temperature exposure to the substrate.In this work, the rapid synthesis of Ti 3 SiC 2 with a low temperature input to the substrate is studied by a multilayer system, which was sputter deposited onto two different substrates utilizing the elemental targets titanium, carbon and silicon.

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