RESEARCH ARTICLE Compositional and electrical properties of Cr, Nb, Cr/Nb, CrNbN, and CrN/NbN multilayers grown using the d.c. magnetron sputtering technique Angélica Garzon‐Fontecha 1 | Harvi Castillo 2 | Daniel Escobar‐Rincón 3 | Elisabeth Restrepo‐Parra 3 | Wencel De La Cruz 4 1 Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE), 22860 Ensenada, B.C., Mexico 2 IMR Solutions S.A. de C.V. Industrial Materials Research—Project Manager Mimihuapan, Tijuana, B.C., Mexico 3 Laboratorio de Física del Plasma, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Manizales, Manizales, Colombia 4 Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ensenada, B.C., Mexico Correspondence Elisabeth Restrepo‐Parra, Laboratorio de Física del Plasma, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Manizales, Km 7 via al Magdalena, Campus la Nubia, Manizales, Colombia. Email: erestrepopa@unal.edu.co Funding information DGAPA‐UNAM and CONACyT‐México, Grant/Award Number: grants IN107213 and IN103711. AGF; DGAPA‐UNAM, Grant/ Award Numbers: IN103711 and IN107213 Cr, Nb, Cr/Nb, CrN x , NbN x , CrNbN, and (CrN/NbN) n structures were produced on Si and glass substrates, using the d.c. magnetron sputtering technique. Compositional analysis, based on binding energies of Cr, Nb, and N, was carried out by means of X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Through Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), depth profiles were obtained, allowing to demonstrate the multilayers produc- tion. Surface morphological characteristics, as roughness and grain size, were evalu- ated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing very smooth surfaces, that is a consequence of the deposition parameters used in the synthetization experiments. Finally, for different configurations, conductivity measurements were carried out, revealing the influence of nitrogen content and temperature on electron transport. It was found that substoichiometric nitrides (CrN 0.35 and NbN 0.12 ) exhibited the highest conductivity, because the nitrogen atoms act as donor of electrons. KEYWORDS conductivity, Hall effect, multilayers, stoichiometry, transition metal nitrides 1 | INTRODUCTION Transition metal nitride (TMN) materials are those composed by a transition metal or combination of them and nitrogen in different pro- portions, which can be in a stoichiometric or nonstoichiometric com- position. These materials can be found in crystalline and amorphous states, and they are characterized for being mainly constituted by covalent type bonds which give to them their highlighted properties. Among their most important features, they can show high mechanical hardness and wear resistance, 1,2 corrosion resistance, 3 biocompatibil- ity, 4 thermal stability, 5 magnetic, 6 among others. Other important characteristics exhibited by TMN are those related to their electrical behavior 7 that makes them candidates for different applications like diffusion barriers, 8 Schottky contacts, 9 field emission cathodes, 10 superconducting devices, 11 ohmic contacts, 12 among others (for detailed information go to Patsalas et al 7 ). These electrical properties are mainly related to the partially filled d orbitals (valence) that are not completely hybridized with the N‐2p electrons. It is important to note that TMN are attractive because of the com- bination of properties that makes them very suitable and reliable for different technological applications. From the perspective of electrical behavior, one TMN widely studied is niobium nitride (NbN), which exhibits very attractive electrical properties, mainly related to its superconducting behavior. 13 Regarding this nitride, studies have mainly focused on determining the relationship between its electrical behavior and its microstructural state. For example, Wang et al 14 reported that, at certain synthesis parameters, the NbN films, with the highest quality single crystal structure, exhibited the best superconducting properties. For instance, Nigro et al 15 found that, in polycrystalline materials, there exists a grain boundary scattering Received: 20 January 2019 Revised: 4 April 2019 Accepted: 19 May 2019 DOI: 10.1002/sia.6664 Surf Interface Anal. 2019;1–8. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sia 1