Modern surface-acoustic-wave (SAW) devices are characterized by their trend to higher frequencies, power densities and new applications. For this, a shrinking of the dimensions is necessary resulting in an increased power density and temperature within the metallization. To reduce the emerging damaging effects (acustomigration, diffusion etc.) additional barrier layers between substrates and electrodes are necessary, especially for high temperature applications. In this context, we present results of detailed chemical interface analysis of sputtered TaN and TiN thin films as potential barrier layers onto SAW-substrate material (LiNbO3) with respect to their temporal (up to 8 h) and thermal stability up to 600 degrees C in vacuum. We report good stability of both systems. The main technique for analysis was non-destructive and surface sensitive angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-XPS). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.