Temperature-dependent microstructural evolution of Ti2AlN thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

- We investigate microstructural evolution of Ti2AlN MAX thin films with temperature.
- The film forms a mixture of Ti, Al and (Ti,Al)N cubic solid solution at 500 °C.
- The film nucleates into polycrystalline Ti2AlN Mn+1AXn phases at 600 °C.
- The film transforms into a single-crystalline Ti2AlN (0 0 0 2) thin film at 750 °C.
- The mechanisms behind Ti2AlN phase transformation with temperature are discussed.