Structural properties of nanometric and micrometric TiCN/TiNbCN supperlattices

TiCN and TiNbCN systems have broadly been used as protective hard and anticorrosive coatings. [TiCN/TiNbCN]$_{n}$ multilayers were deposited on silicon substrates by two-target-r.f. magnetron sputtering with alternatively changing the sputtering plasma composition between pure Ti+C and Nb elements under a reactive mixture Ar/N$_{2}$. TiCN/TiNbCN bilayer period varied from nanometric range (15~nm) to higher micrometric range (1.5~$\mu $m) values. Structural, morphological and stoichiometric of the coatings were analyzed by high-angle- and low-angle X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We determined multilayer period, $\Lambda $, and individual layer thicknesses. We found a cube-on-cube epitaxial growth structure and with epitaxial relationship between layers inside each columnar crystallite given by (111)[110]$_{TiCN}$//(111)[110]$_{TiNbCN}$.