Relative orientation of the constituents on the degree of crystallographic coherence in AlN/TiN superlattices

Concepts for the design of advanced nanoscale PVD multilayer protective thin films

“…Similar considerations are described in a model of Barnett and co-workers [92]. Karimi et al [93] addressed the correlation between relative crystallographic orientations of the AlN and TiN layers and the formation of coherent structures and their impact on the superlattice effect. For a special architecture of the TiN/AlN superlattice (i.e.…”

Growth and thermal stability of TiN/ZrAlN: Effect of internal interfaces

“…HR-TEM combined with FFT of lattice resolved images, SAED pattern, and our previous plan-view image analysis [11] revealed two different coherency relations of w-AlN lattice; type-I : c-ZrN (110)[001] / w-AlN [001] (Fig. 6c) in the lateral direction, and type II: c-TiN (111) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] / w-AlN (0001) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] in the growth direction (Fig. 6d).…”

“…In place of the above mentioned approaches for stabilizing metastable c-AlN we propose an alternative structural archetype consisting c-TMN and thermodynamically stable w-AlN with semi-coherent interfaces. The concept originates from recent experimental studies showing films consisting of nonisostructural but semi-coherent internal interfaces that exhibit hardness values similar to films with iso-structural coherent interfaces between c-TiN and c-AlN [11][12][13][14]. It exposes the fact that even though w-AlN has a lower shear resistance [15], coatings containing w-AlN could be strengthened by growing them such that semi-coherent interfaces are formed.…”

“…It exposes the fact that even though w-AlN has a lower shear resistance [15], coatings containing w-AlN could be strengthened by growing them such that semi-coherent interfaces are formed. The current knowledge of semi-coherent growth of w-AlN is, however, limited [12,13,16]. Their thermal stability is yet to be studied, which we address in this article using TiN/ZrAlN as a model system.…”

Reactive formation of AlN precipitates and epitaxial interface in TiN_1&minus;<i>_x</i>&ndash;AlN composites

“…Diffusion of N and Al atoms into TiN 1¹x formed stoichiometric TiN and AlN nano-precipitates with epitaxial interface of TiN 1¹x (220) and AlN (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20). The possible beneficial effects of these AlN nanoprecipitates dispersion on the toughing performance of TiN 1¹x AlN composites are suggested.…”