High-temperature stability of epitaxial, non-isostructural Mo/NbN superlattices Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • The effect of 1000 C vacuum annealing on the structure and hardness of epitaxial Mo/NbN superlattice thin films was studied. The intensity of superlattice satellite peaks, measured by x-ray diffraction, decreased during annealing while new peaks corresponding to a MoNbN ternary phase appeared. The results are consistent with the MoNbN phase diagram, which shows no mutual solubility between Mo, NbN, and MoNbN. Even after 3-h anneals and a loss of most of the superlattice peak intensity, the room-temperature hardness was the same as for as-deposited superlattices. The retained hardness suggests that a residual nanocomposite structure is retained even after the formation of the ternary structure.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Materials Research

author list (cited authors)

  • Engstrm, C., Madan, A., Birch, J., Nastasi, M., Hultman, L., & Barnett, S. A.

citation count

  • 20

complete list of authors

  • Engström, C||Madan, A||Birch, J||Nastasi, M||Hultman, L||Barnett, SA

publication date

  • February 2000