Thermal decomposition products in arc evaporated TiAlN/TiN multilayers

• Cubic metastable Ti0.34Al0.66 N/TiN multilayers were grown by reactive arc evaporation using Ti33-Al67 and Ti cathodes in a N2 atmosphere. X-ray diffractometry and high resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that metastable c-Ti 0.34Al0.66N partly decomposes after annealing at 900 °C into c-TiN rich and c-AlN rich phases with retained lattice coherency. Elemental mapping by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy showed a homogenous distribution of Ti and Al in the as-deposited 25 nm Ti0.34Al 0.66N layers. The annealed Ti0.34Al0.66N layers exhibited coherent 5 nm domains with high Al content surrounded by a high Ti content matrix. This nanostructure formation is discussed in terms of spinodal decomposition. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

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