Magnetic response of (Cr,Al,Si)N nanocrystallites on the microstructure of Cr-Al-Si-N nanocomposites

Abstract

A combination of microstructure analysis and ab initio calculations helped us to describe the interplay between the microstructure of Cr-Al-Si-N thin film nanocomposites and the ordering of the magnetic moments in the chromium-rich phase of (Cr,Al)N. The microstructure of the Cr-Al-Si-N nanocomposites was modified through the degree of ionisation of the deposited species in three physical vapour deposition processes - cathodic arc evaporation, unbalanced magnetron sputtering and high power impulse magnetron sputtering. According to the results of the ab initio calculations, the magnetic ordering was concluded from the expansion of the elementary cell and from the change of the crystal anisotropy of the elastic constants of (Cr,Al)N; these microstructure features were obtained from X-ray diffraction experiments. The microstructure of the Cr-Al-Si-N nanocomposites was furthermore characterised using the combination of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy with high resolution in order to obtain information about the phase composition of the thin films, distribution of individual elements and the crystallite size.