Crystallization of amorphous SiC and superhardness effect in CrAlN/SiC nanomultilayered films

► The novel CrAlN/SiC nanomultilayers were produced by reactive magnetron sputtering. ► The amorphous SiC layers were crystallized and grew epitaxially with CrAlN layers. ► The maximum hardness and elastic modulus respectively reach 35.4 GPa and 431 GPa.