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Accelerating the development of oxynitride thin films: A combinatorial investigation of the Al-Si-O-N system

Stefanie Frick1, Oleksandr Pshyk1, Arnold Müller2, Alexander Wieczorek1, Kerstin Thorwarth1, and Sebastian Siol1,*

  • *Contact author: sebastian.siol@empa.ch
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Phys. Rev. Materials 9, 103803 – Published 24 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cqk9-d247

Abstract

Oxynitrides are used in a variety of applications including photocatalysts, high-k dielectrics, or wear-resistant coatings and often show intriguing multifunctionality. To accelerate the cooptimization of the relevant material properties of these compositionally complex oxynitride systems, high-throughput synthesis and characterization methods are desirable. In the present work, three approaches were investigated to obtain orthogonal anion and cation gradients on the same substrate by magnetron sputtering. The different approaches included varying positions of the local reactive gas inlets and different combinations of target materials. The best performing approach was applied to screen a large two-dimensional area of the quaternary phase space within the Al-Si-O-N system. This material system is a promising candidate for transparent protective coatings with variable refractive indices. With only five depositions of combinatorial libraries, an anion composition range of 0.02–0.46 O/(N+O) and a cation composition range of 0.04–0.44 Si/(Al+Si) is covered. For lower oxygen and silicon contents, a region with hardness of up to 25 GPa is observed, where the material exhibits either wurzite AlN or a composite microstructure. By increasing the deposition temperature to 400°C, an extension of this region can be achieved. At higher oxygen and silicon contents, the structure of the samples is x-ray amorphous. In this structural region, an intimate correlation between hardness and refractive index is confirmed. The results of this study introduce a practical approach to perform high-throughput development of mixed anion materials, which is transferable to many materials systems and applications.

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Phys. Rev. Materials 9, 103803– Published 24 October, 2025
  • Received 6 May 2025
  • Accepted 2 September 2025
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