Thermal stability of nanocrystalline (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N films implanted by He+ ions

The influence of irradiation with He+ ions on the thermal stability of TiZrN and (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N nanocrystalline films was studied. The TiZrN and (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N films were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering. XRD research showed that the TiZrN and (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N films were single-phase systems (based on cubic c-(Ti,Zr)N and cubic c-(Ti,Zr,Al)N solid solutions) with nanocrystalline (grain size 30 and 21 nm, respectively) structure. The irradiation with He+ ions and thermal annealing up to 800 °C do not affect the structure and phase composition of the (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N film. The prior irradiation of the (Ti,Zr)0.54Al0.46N film with He+ ions activates spinodal decomposition of the c-(Ti,Zr,Al)N solid solution after thermal annealing at 1000 °C due to redistribution of the components of the solid solution inside the grains.