Improved hardness of semi-coherent TiN/CrN nano-multilayer coating through manipulation of structure evolution

We demonstrate an unexpected observation of interfacial broadening nearly independent coating hardness in semi-coherent TiN/CrN nano-multilayer. This observation can be attributed to the texture and interfacial microstructure evolutions governed by the adatom kinetic energy during thin film growth, providing a strategy for the enhancement of coating hardness to compensate the detrimental effect of inevitable interfacial broadening.