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1772585 
Journal Article 
Formation of cubic structured (Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3 and its dynamic transition to corundum phase during cathodic arc evaporation 
Najafi, H; Karimi, A; Dessarzin, P; Morstein, M 
2013 
1 
Surface and Coatings Technology
ISSN: 0257-8972 
214 
46-52 
WOS:000315004000006 
Mixed aluminum-chromium oxide coatings in the form of
(Al,Cr)(2)O-3 solid solutions have attracted extensive research interest during the past years
due to their successful use for challenging wear applications and the comparative ease of their
moderate-temperature deposition by physical vapor deposition techniques. During our research into
the reactive cathodic arc deposition of this type of coating, we found a previously unobserved
transition between two crystalline aluminum-chromium oxide structures. During the early growth
stage, films arc-deposited from Al10.55Cr0.45 targets form a first zone, that was found to
contain exclusively the metastable cubic fcc-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3 phase. This kinetically
favored phase is reproducibly followed by the growth of a second zone made of the initially
expected corundum phase, alpha-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3, as observed by TEM. This dynamic
transition has a significant effect on the film properties. XPS studies and structural data show
that the formation of fcc-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3 with a (200) preferred orientation arises from
the initial presence of a metastable monoxide (M1-xO) film, which is stabilized by the
incorporation of metal vacancies (31%) in the B1 structure. However, as the thickness of coating
increases, the thermodynamic aspect becomes more important as compared to kinetics and leads to a
loss of structural stability in the cubic layer, which is a kinetically favored phase. As a
result, the system will transform into the metastable corundum alpha-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3,
which is thermodynamically more stable than the cubic phase. In this paper, formation of fcc-
(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3 and its transformation to corundum phase are discussed in detail with
respect to the structural and electronic properties of the different phases. (C) 2012 Elsevier
B.V. All rights reserved. 
Arc evaporation; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Valence band structure; alpha-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3; fcc-(Al1-xCrx)(2+delta)O-3