Printed by LiU-Tryck To Alchemists

If all you boast of your great art be true; Sure, willing poverty lives most in you. —Ben Jonson vAbstract This thesis explores nanostructuring in TiSiCN, ZrAlN, and TiAlN thin films deposited by cathodic arc evaporation onto cemented carbide substrates, with intended applications for cutting tools.The three systemswere found to exhibit age hardening upon annealing, by different mechanisms, into the superhard regime (≥30 GPa), as determined by a combination of electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, atom probe tomography, erda, and nanoindentation tech-niques. TiSiCN forms nanocomposite films during growth by virtue of Si segregation to the surface of TiCN nanocrystallites while simultaneously pro-moting renucleation.Thus, the common columnar microstructure of TiCN and low-Si-content (≤5 at. %) TiSiN-films is replaced by a “feather-like ” nanos-tructure in high-Si-content (≥10 at. %) TiSiCN films. The presence of