Structure and electronic properties of AlCrOxN1-x thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering

In this study, the main attempt is devoted to investigating the microstructure and electronic properties of AlCrOxN1 - x films in a wide range of oxygen concentrations from 0 to 1. These oxynitride films were deposited by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering from Al55Cr45 targets. Our results showed that films with x = O/(O + N) < 0.6, exhibit a cubic (B1) lattice with a well-developed columnar structure. The incorporation of oxygen into the films without any oxide segregation results in the formation of a substitutional AlCrOxN1 - x solid solution and material system behaves like nitrides electronically. In the range of oxygen contents from 0.6