Aluminum (Al) films with thickness of 100 nm were grown on unheated glass, silicon and mica substrates by electron beam evaporation. The deposition rates were adjusted in the range between 0.1 nm/s and 2 nm/s, the pressure in the vac­uum chamber during deposition was lower than 1·10^–3 Pa. The structure and surface morphology of the as-deposited Al films were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SEM imaging of the films showed that the mean grain size of thin Al films on all of the substrates increased from 20 nm – 30 nm to 50 nm – 70 nm with increase of the deposition rate. Quantitative AFM characterization showed that for all substrates the root mean square surface roughness increases monotonically with increasing the deposition rate from 0.1 nm/s to 2 nm/s. The observed effects of the deposition rate on the grain size and surface roughness are explained by the fundamental characteristics of the island growth mode, the influence of the background gases and the surface morphology of the bare substrates.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.4.3088

The band structure of pure and Ti-alloyed anodic aluminum oxide has been examined as a function of Ti concentration varying from 2 to 20 at. %. The band gap energy of Ti-alloyed anodic Al oxide decreases with increasing Ti concentration. X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals that Ti atoms are not located in a TiO2 unit in the oxide layer, but rather in a mixed Ti-Al oxide layer. The optical band gap energy of the anodic oxide layers was determined by vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy in the energy range from 4.1 to 9.2 eV (300–135 nm). The results indicate that amorphous anodic Al2O3 has a direct band gap of 7.3 eV, which is about ∼1.4 eV lower than its crystalline counterpart (single-crystal Al2O3). Upon Ti-alloying, extra bands appear within the band gap of amorphous Al2O3, mainly caused by Ti 3d orbitals localized at the Ti site.

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