Hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) based on metal/dielectric multilayers have garnered attention in recent years due to their extraordinary optical properties emanating from hyperbolic dispersion of isofrequency surfaces. We have developed a new class of epitaxial metal/dielectric superlattice HMMs based on transition-metal nitrides—titanium nitride (TiN) and aluminum scandium nitride (${\mathrm{Al}}_x{\mathrm{Sc}}_{1-x}\mathrm{N}$)—that could potentially lead to better HMM performance without requiring any traditional plasmonic materials such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag). Our results suggest that the TiN/(Al,Sc)N superlattices grown on (001) MgO substrates are nominally monocrystalline and pseudomorphic, exhibiting sharp interfaces with interface roughnesses of about one to two atomic layers. HMMs deposited on (0001) sapphire substrates grow in 111 orientation with local epitaxy inherent to individual grains, while on (001) Si substrates, the HMMs are polycrystalline. The HMM properties extracted with effective medium theory along with nonlocal field corrections indicate that the TiN/(Al,Sc)N superlattices grown on MgO substrates have both transverse negative (type-I) and transverse positive (type-II) hyperbolic dispersion of the isofrequency surfaces in the visible to near-IR spectral regions. The carrier concentration of TiN layers was varied deliberately by tuning the deposition conditions, thereby shifting the spectral range of both type-I and type-II HMM dispersions. The epitaxial thin-film-based HMMs developed here mark the beginning of a new generation of optical metamaterials with enhanced electromagnetic properties.

• Received 14 June 2014
• Revised 22 August 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.125420