Age hardening in superhard ZrB2-rich Zr1-xTaxBy thin films

Self-organized nanocolumnar structure in superhard TiB2 thin films

TiB2 thin films are well known for their high hardness which makes them useful for wear-resistant applications. Overstoichiometric TiB2 deposited at 300 °C by nonreactive sputtering has been shown to exhibit superhardness sHù40 GPad, while the hardness of their bulk stoichiometric counterparts is ,25 GPa. We show, using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, that overstoichiometric T...

Superhard NbB2-x thin films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering

We have deposited weakly textured substoichiometric NbB2-x thin films by magnetron sputtering from a NbB2 target. The films exhibit superhardness (42 ± 4 GPa), previously only observed in overstoichiometric TiB2 thin films, and explained by a self-organized nanostructuring, where thin TiB2 columnar grains hinder nucleation and slip of dislocations and a B-rich tissue phase between the grains pr...

Nanostructuring and Age Hardening in TiSCN, ZrAlN, and TiAlN Thin Films

Temperature–Time Texture Transition of Pb(Zr1−xTix)O3 Thin Films: I, Role of Pb-rich Intermediate Phases

Lead-rich intermediate phases, in particular Pt,,Pb and PbO, are found to form on Pt(ll1) atop Ti-buffered Si substrates prior to formation of Pb(Zr, -*TiX)O3 (PZT) thin films. Pt,_,Pb is a [ill] textured transient intermetallic phase that nucleates PZT[111] texture. PbO is a [OOl] textured layer compound that nucleates PZT[100] texture. The formation conditions and lattice matching of these in...

Polarization states of polydomain epitaxial Pb„Zr1−xTix...O3 thin films and their dielectric properties

V. G. Kukhar,1 N. A. Pertsev,2,3,* H. Kohlstedt,2,4 and R. Waser2,5 1Scientific Research Institute “Vector”, St. Petersburg, Russia 2Institut für Festkörperforschung and CNI, Forschungszentrum Jülich, D-52425 Jülich, Germany 3A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 194021 St. Petersburg, Russia 4Department of Material Science and Engineering and Department of Physi...