Transmission electron microscopy analysis of the interfaces of TiAlN/Mo multilayers

This paper focus on the analysis of the interfaces of nanocomposite TiAlN/Mo multilayers by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). These thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering, with modulation periods below 7 nm. The structural disorder at the interfaces was probed by the analysis of the X-ray diffraction data, and afterwards correlated with the TEM observations on the cross-sections of the TiAlN/Mo multilayers. For specific deposition conditions, these structures can be prepared with relatively planar interfaces, revealing layer-by-layer growth. For modulation periods below 3 nm the intermixing acts a major role in the degradation of the multilayer chemical modulation.