Advances in the characterisation of multilayered coatings using electron energy loss spectroscopy in the transmission electron microscope

The use of electron energy loss spectroscopy with parallel detection (PEELS) to study coatings is illustrated by results from TiN/Ti multilayers deposited by reactive arc evaporation. PEELS shows that the distribution of N close to the interface has a 10–90% width of ∼5 nm (determined by fitting an error function to the experimental data points) despite there being a well-defined sharp crystallographic interface. The crystallographic interface …