Ti2AlN thin films synthesized by annealing of (Ti+Al)/AlN multilayers

• Epitaxial thin films of the MAX phase Ti2AlN are obtained by thermal annealing.
• A new metastable (Ti,Al,N) solid solution with the structure of α-T is evidenced.
• The formation of the MAX phase occurs at low temperature (600 °C).

Single-phase Ti2AlN thin films were obtained by annealing in vacuum of (Ti + Al)/AlN multilayers deposited at room temperature by magnetron sputtering onto single-crystalline (0001) 4H-SiC and (0001) Al2O3 substrates. In-situ X-ray diffraction experiments combined with ex-situ cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy observations reveal that interdiffusion processes occur in the multilayer at a temperature of ∼400 °C leading to the formation of a (Ti, Al, N) solid solution, having the hexagonal structure of α-Ti, whereas the formation of Ti2AlN occurs at 550–600 °C. Highly oriented (0002) Ti2AlN thin films can be obtained after an annealing at 750 °C.

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