SELF-ORGANIZED NANOSTRUCTURING IN
FUNCTIONAL NITRIDE THIN FILMS
Lars Hultman
Thin Film Physics Division, Department of Physics (IFM), Linköping University,
S-58183 Linköping, Sweden
Corresponding author: Larhu@ifm.liu.se
Nanostructuring by thermodynamic driving forces and kinetic constraints is reviewed for various
metastable transition metal nitride thin films for wear-resistant applications. Synthesis is made by
reactive multi-source magnetron-sputter epitaxy or arc deposition. These are analyzed by
aberration-corrected TEM, 3D-ATP, XRD, and nanoindentation. Ab initio calculations is
employed to assess phase stability and decomposition behavior from lattice mismatch and
electronic band structure effects. Examples from metastable model alloys systems include the
following phenomena:
 Superhardening in TiN/Si3N4 nanocomposites and artificial superlattices by Si
segregation forming few-monolayer-thick SiNx vacancy-stabilized cubic epitaxial tissue
phases. Also, the solubility limit for NaCl-structure TiN:Si alloys is presented
 Toughening in VMoN and VWN alloys.
 Age hardening in isotructural cubic transition metal nitride alloys, including spinodal
decomposition for TiAlN resulting in the formation of cubic-phase nm-size domains in a
checker-board-pattern of c-TiN and c-AlN, or a nanolabyrinth of c-ZrN and h-AlN
during segregation in ZrAlN, at temperatures corresponding to cutting tool operation.
Recent papers:
Spinodal decomposition of Ti0.33Al0.67N thin films studied by atom probe tomography
Lars Johnson et al., Thin Solid Films 520 (2012) 4362
Nanolabyrinthine ZrAlN thin films by self-organization of interwoven single-crystal cubic and hexagonal
phases,
Naureen Ghafoor et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. Materials 1 (2013) 022105
Strain-free, single-phase metastable Ti0.38Al0.62N alloys with high hardness: metal-ion energy vs.
momentum effects during film growth by hybrid high-power pulsed/dc magnetron cosputtering,
Grzegorz Greczynski et al., Thin Solid Films (2014)
Effect of WN content on toughness enhancement in V1-xWxN/MgO(001) thin films,
Hanna Kindlund, et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 32 (2014) 030603
Microstructure evolution during the isostructural decomposition of TiAlN - A combined in-situ small
angle X-ray scattering and phase field study
Axel Knutsson et al., J. Appl. Phys. 113 (2013) 213518
Si incorporation in Ti1-xSixN films grown on TiN(001) and (001)-faceted TiN(111) columns,
Anders. O. Eriksson, et al., Surf. Coat. Technol. (2014)