| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Advanced Surface Engineering | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session SE+NS+TR-TuM |
| Session: | Nanostructured Thin Films and Coatings |
| Presenter: | Christian Mitterer, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria |
| Authors: | A. Riedl, Materials Center Leoben, Austria R. Daniel, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria T. Schoeberl, Austrian Academy of Sciences M. Stefenelli, Austrian Academy of Sciences B. Sartory, Materials Center Leoben, Austria J. Keckes, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria C. Mitterer, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Hardness and elastic modulus of a sputtered nanocrystalline CrN thin film, grown under varying ion bombardment conditions, were studied by nanoindentation using a depth-profiling technique and related to cross-sectional X-ray nanodiffraction data on the local microstructure. Changes in texture are shown to have almost no effect on the elastic modulus due to the isotropic response of the polycrystals. However, the locally varying growth conditions, which affect crystal size and number, determine the hardness values across the film thickness. Regions with highly distorted small crystals result in higher hardness in comparison to those with well‑developed coarsened grains. This work confirms the notion of the existence of growth-related hardness gradients in single-phase nanocrystalline thin films.