title: Temperature driven evolution of thermal, electrical, and optical properties of Ti-Al-N coatings.
abstract: Monolithic single phase cubic (c) Ti1-xAlxN thin films are used in various industrial applications due to their high thermal stability, which beneficially effects lifetime and performance of cutting and milling tools, but also find increasing utilization in electronic and optical devices. The present study elucidates the temperature-driven evolution of heat conductivity, electrical resistivity and optical reflectance from room temperature up to 1400 °C and links them to structural and chemical changes in Ti1-xAlxN coatings. It is shown that various decomposition phenomena, involving recovery and spinodal decomposition (known to account for the age hardening phenomenon in c-Ti1-xAlxN), as well as the cubic to wurtzite phase transformation of spinodally formed AlN-enriched domains, effectively increase the thermal conductivity of the coatings from ∼3.8 W m-1K-1by a factor of three, while the electrical resistivity is reduced by one order of magnitude. A change in the coating color from metallic grey after deposition to reddish-golden after annealing to 1400 °C is related to the film structure and discussed in terms of film reflectivity.
authors.affiliation: Department Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing, Montanuniversität Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria ; Christian Doppler Laboratory for Application Oriented Coating Development, Department of Physical Metallurgy and Materials Testing, Montanuniversität Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rachbauer
authors.forename: Jamie J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Gengler
authors.forename: Andrey A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Voevodin
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Resch
authors.forename: Paul H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Mayrhofer
keywords: Electrical resistivity; Optical reflectivity; Thermal conductivity; Thermal stability; TiAlN