The formation of ternary compounds within the Ti-Al-C system was studied by magnetron sputtering for thin-film deposition and first-principles calculations for phase stability. As-deposited films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The hardness and Young's moduli of the material were studied by nanoindentation. Epitaxial and phase-pure films of M(n+1)AX(n) phases Ti3AlC2 and Ti2AlC as well as the perovskite phase Ti3AlC were deposited on Al2O3(00l) wafers kept at temperatures between 800 and 900 degrees C. The only ternary phases observed at low temperatures (300 degrees C) were Ti3AlC and cubic (Ti,Al)C, the latter can be described as a metastable solid solution of Al in TiC similar to the more studied (Ti,Al)N system. The difficulties to form MAX phases at low substrate temperatures were attributed of requirement for a sufficient diffusivity to partition the elements corresponding to the relatively complex crystal structures with long c-axes. While MAX-phase synthesis at 800 degrees C is significantly lower than contemporary bulk sintering processes, a reduction of the substrate temperature towards 300 degrees C in the present thin-film deposition experiments resulted in stacking sequence variations and the intergrowth of (Ti,AI)C. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.