Search

Ti-Al-O-N coatings were synthesized by cathodic arc and high power pulsed magnetron sputtering. The chemical composition of the coatings was determined by means of elastic recoil detection analysis and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The effect of oxygen incorporation on the stress-free lattice parameters and Young's moduli of Ti-Al-O-N coatings was investigated by X-ray diffraction and nanoindentation, respectively. As nitrogen is substituted by oxygen, implications for the charge balance may be expected. A reduction in equilibrium volume with increasing O concentration is identified by X-ray diffraction and density functional theory calculations of Ti-Al-O-N supercells reveal the concomitant formation of metal vacancies. Hence, the oxygen incorporation-induced formation of metal vacancies enables charge balancing. Furthermore, nano-indentation experiments reveal a decrease in elastic modulus with increasing O concentration. Based on ab initio data, two causes can be identified for this: First, the metal vacancy-induced reduction in elasticity; and second, the formation of, compared to the corresponding metal nitride bonds, relatively weak Ti-O and Al-O bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zn1-xMgxO epitaxial films with Mg concentrations 0≤x≤0.3 were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on a-plane sapphire substrates. Precise determination of the Mg concentration x was performed by elastic recoil detection analysis. The bandgap energy was extracted from absorption measurements with high accuracy taking electron-hole interaction and exciton-phonon complexes into account. From these results a linear relationship between bandgap energy and Mg concentration is established for x≤0.3. Due to alloy disorder, the increase of the photoluminescence emission energy with Mg concentration is less pronounced. An analysis of the lattice parameters reveals that the epitaxial films grow biaxially strained on a-plane sapphire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]