Epitaxial Ti2AlN(0 0 0 1) thin film deposition by dual-target reactive magnetron sputtering

✍ Scribed by P.O.Å. Persson; S. Kodambaka; I. Petrov; L. Hultman

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 836 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1359-6454
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actamat.2007.04.006

✦ Synopsis

Ultrahigh-vacuum dual-target reactive magnetron sputtering, in a mixed Ar/N 2 discharge was used to deposit epitaxial single-crystal MAX phase Ti 2 AlN(0 0 0 1) thin films, without seed layers, onto Al 2 O 3 (0 0 0 1) substrates kept at 1050 °C. By varying the N 2 partial pressure a narrow process window was identified for the growth of single-crystal Ti 2 AlN. The film microstructure was characterized by a combination of X-ray diffraction, spherical aberration (C s ) corrected transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution image simulation and high-resolution scanning TEM. Nitrogen-depleted deposition conditions resulted in the concurrent formation of N-free Ti-Al intermetallics at the film/substrate interface and a steady-state growth of Ti 2 AlN together with N-free intermetallic phases. At higher N 2 partial pressures the growth assumes a columnar epitaxial nature. 1 A ˚resolution of the lattice enabling location of all elements in the Ti 2 AlN unit cell is demonstrated.