TY - JOUR A1 - Dück, Alexander A1 - Gamer, Nadja A1 - Gesatzke, Wolfgang A1 - Griepentrog, Michael A1 - Österle, Werner A1 - Sahre, Mario A1 - Urban, Ingrid T1 - Ti/TiN multilayer coatings: deposition technique, characterization and mechanical properties N2 - Ti/TiN multilayer coatings with multilayer periods in the range 5–50 nm and a final thickness of 2 µm were deposited on steel substrates by cyclic modulation of nitrogen gas flow into the chamber of a PVD sputtering device. Coating characterization was performed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, glancing-angle X-ray diffraction and instrumental indentation testing. Individual a-titanium and titanium nitride layers were always observed, although for the finer microstructures, the TiN layers were thicker than the Ti layers by a factor three. The plastic hardness of the films increased steadily with decreasing layer spacing, following a Hall–Petch relationship. Finally, a hardness value of 42 GPa was reached, which is similar to that of a thick TiN monolayer, prepared under the same coating conditions. KW - Ti/TiN KW - Multilayer KW - Magnetron sputtering KW - Mechanical properties KW - Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) PY - 2001 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/S0257-8972(01)01171-9 SN - 0257-8972 VL - 142-144 SP - 579 EP - 584 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Lausanne AN - OPUS4-7646 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -