Combined Metal-like Ductility and High Hardness in N-rich HfN Thin Films by Point Defect Superstructuring

Combined Metal-like Ductility and High Hardness in N-rich HfN Thin Films by Point Defect Superstructuring | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Combined Metal-like Ductility and High Hardness in N-rich HfN Thin Films by Point Defect Superstructuring Naureen Ghafoor, Marcus Lorentzon, Davide Sangiovanni, Naoki Takata, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5312665/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Materials → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The strength of refractory ceramics is much limited by their brittleness. Counterintuitively, we observe simultaneous high hardness and metallic-like ductility in highly overstoichiometric single-crystal HfN 1.22 and HfN 1.33 films grown by ion-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering. Electron microscopy, diffraction methods, and ab-initio calculations reveal the existence of a novel type of superstructure ordering of both metal vacancies and nitrogen interstitials into sub-nanometer hyper-overstoichiometric and quasi-stoichiometric domains that self-organize into a checkerboard pattern superimposed onto the NaCl-structured lattice. A high intrinsic dislocation density enables an unparallelled ductility and strain hardening in room temperature uniaxial compression of HfN 1.22 micropillars, by activation of {111} slip. The films simultaneously exhibit a high hardness – tunable up to 28 GPa via control of stoichiometry – and a remarkable fracture resistance due to dislocation-mediated stress dissipation. The presented findings provide a route for synthesizing nitride superstructured films with unique hardness/toughness combinations. Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files Supplementaryv6.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Mar, 2025 Read the published version in Communications Materials → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5312665","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":372329192,"identity":"42ae7d05-b715-4f9f-838e-dc54e68a762c","order_by":0,"name":"Naureen 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Counterintuitively, we observe simultaneous high hardness and metallic-like ductility in highly overstoichiometric single-crystal HfN\u003csub\u003e1.22\u003c/sub\u003e and HfN\u003csub\u003e1.33\u003c/sub\u003e films grown by ion-assisted reactive magnetron sputtering. Electron microscopy, diffraction methods, and ab-initio calculations reveal the existence of a novel type of superstructure ordering of both metal vacancies and nitrogen interstitials into sub-nanometer hyper-overstoichiometric and quasi-stoichiometric domains that self-organize into a checkerboard pattern superimposed onto the NaCl-structured lattice. A high intrinsic dislocation density enables an unparallelled ductility and strain hardening in room temperature uniaxial compression of HfN\u003csub\u003e1.22\u003c/sub\u003e micropillars, by activation of {111}\u003c011\u003e slip. 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