Mechanically controlling the reversible phase transformation from zinc blende to wurtzite in AlN

High-resolution STEM investigation of the role of dislocations during decomposition of Ti1-xAlxNy

“…Other materials that exhibit a cubic or zincblende to wurtzite transformation (and vice versa) have been shown to display a continuous glide of Shockley partial dislocations as the mechanism of the transformation [39,40]. Similar behaviors were found for AlN during nanoindentation, wherein the reversible transition between zinc blende to wurtzite happens by the collective glide of Shockley partials [41]. Molecular dynamics modeling of TiAlN nanolayers predicts a similar mechanism, with cubic-to-wurtzite transformation triggered by strain along [100] which causes V-shaped defect complexes [42] similar to the nanostructures we also observe (Fig.…”

Mechanical Properties of Metal Nanolaminates

“…Yet, stabilizing the zinc blende structure has long been a popular area of research due to its favorable optoelectronic properties (60). The Al/AlN nanolaminate system, when layer thicknesses are sufficiently small, results in a thermodynamically favored, fully zb-AlN structure, driven by interface coherency strains (61). For small layer thicknesses, the coherency strains at the interface favor the zb-AlN structure, which represents the dominant structure when no load is applied (Figure 13a).…”

Atomistic Mechanisms Underlying Plasticity and Crack Growth in Ceramics: A Case Study of Aln/Tin Superlattices

“…Although not directly related to present findings, we should mention that, as shown by Li et al . [17] for the case of fcc-Al(111)/B3-AlN(111) multilayered thin films, coherency strains at interfaces can induce also the reversible B4-to-B3 phase transformation, governed by a collective glide of Shockley partial dislocations on B3-AlN {111} planes.…”

“…Our model AlN/TiN SL system is a vibrant research topic [1,[14][15][16][17][18] , especially due to the epitaxial stabilisation of metastable cubic B1-AlN (Fm 3 m, rocksalt ), which is a preferred phase in hard coatings [19][20][21][22][23][24] . Considerable lattice mismatch of the B1-AlN and B1-TiN ( ≈ 4 .…”