Charge Distribution in the Single Crystalline Ti2AlN Thin Films Grown on MgO(111) Substrates

Charge Distribution in the Single Crystalline Ti2AlN Thin Films Grown on MgO(111) Substrates

The Journal of Physical Chemistry C

10.1021/jp402373k

http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp402373k

Zheng Zhang, Yanguang Nie, Lu Shen, Jianwei Chai, Jisheng Pan, Lai Mun Wong, Michael B. Sullivan, Hongmei Jin, Shi Jie Wang

Crystal structure, hardness, Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Surfaces, Coatings and Films, General Energy, xps, TEM, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

15 May 2013

Zhang, Z., Nie, Y., Shen, L., Chai, J., Pan, J., Wong, L. M., … Wang, S. J. (2013). Charge Distribution in the Single Crystalline Ti2AlN Thin Films Grown on MgO(111) Substrates. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 117(22), 11656–11662. doi:10.1021/jp402373k

Single crystalline Ti2AlN thin films have been grown on MgO(111) substrates at 750 °C using DC magnetron sputtering from a Ti2Al alloy target in a mixed N2/Ar plasma. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy demonstrate layered growth of a Ti2AlN{0002} thin film on the MgO(111) substrate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy detects a TiN-like conducting nature of the Ti2AlN thin film. However, the binding energies (BEs) of Ti 2p3/2 and Al 2p have shifted to 454.7 ± 0.2 and 72.3 ± 0.2 eV, respectively, lower than their corresponding values in nitrides (TiN and AlN). The BE of Al 2p is even lower than that in metallic Al. The unusual shifts are attributed to charge transfer from Ti to Al as shown by the density functional theory calculations.

Publisher Copyright

There was no specific funding for the research done

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp402373k

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/17664

1932-7447
1932-7455

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering