Investigation of intermixing in TiAlN/VN nanoscale multilayer coatings by energy-filtered TEM

We employ high-resolution energy-filtered cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) to estimate the degree of layer intermixing in a TiAlN/VN low friction, wear-resistant nanoscale multilayers with a periodicity of approximately 4 nm grown by industrial-scale unbalanced magnetron ion-assisted PVD. Coatings are examined by high-resolution TEM imaging. A series of high-resolution elemental distribution maps are obtained by tuning the electron energy-loss imaging filter to the core loss energies of the elements present. We compare the experimental composition profiles with calculations, which model intermixing at the interface of the layers by a convolution. Although no physical shutter is employed in the industrial process (the substrate is passed in front of alternating targets in a confined plasma), the resulting layers are well differentiated.