Morphology and orientation of nanocrystalline AlN thin films

Wang, Xiaodong; Jiang, Wenbo; Norton, M. Grant; Hipps, K. W.

doi:10.1016/0040-6090(94)90676-9

Cited by 37 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[2][3][4][5] Nowadays, several notable results have been reported from experiments with hydrogen gas added to reactive gas during the deposition of AlN film. Wang et al 6 have reported that the hydrogenated aluminum nitride ͑AlN:H͒ films are nanocrystalline with preferred c-axis orientation and an extremely smooth surface. Yong et al have observed that the c-axis preferred orientation is maintained up to 10% of H 2 addition to reactive gas, the surface becomes smooth and the stress is relieved as the content of H 2 increases.…”

Section: ͓S0003-6951͑97͒03637-1͔mentioning

confidence: 99%

High resolution transmission electron microscopy study on the microstructures of aluminum nitride and hydrogenated aluminum nitride films prepared by radio frequency reactive sputtering

Yong

Kim

Lee

1997

Applied Physics Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aluminum nitride (AlN) and hydrogenated aluminum nitride (AlN:H) films on Si substrate have been deposited by the radio frequency reactive magnetron sputtering. The microstructures of the two films have been examined and compared by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution TEM. In the growth of the AlN:H film, it has been observed that the amorphous phase is formed at the initial stage of deposition, and c-axis oriented crystallite nucleates at the amorphous layer. The lattice mismatch between the film and substrate and the stress in the film are reduced, and the film surface is smooth due to this amorphous phase. A schematic model explaining the growth of AlN and AlN:H films is proposed, and the reason for the easy formation of the amorphous phase in AlN:H film is discussed.

show abstract

Section: ͓S0003-6951͑97͒03637-1͔mentioning

confidence: 99%

High resolution transmission electron microscopy study on the microstructures of aluminum nitride and hydrogenated aluminum nitride films prepared by radio frequency reactive sputtering

Yong

Kim

Lee

1997

Applied Physics Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In the majority of cases the crystallites of AlN thin films are found to have a preferred crystallographic orientation with respect to the plane of the substrate. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] In most cases, [13][14][15][16] the preferred orientation reported is with the c axis perpendicular to the plane of the film. Windischmann, 13 used a nitrogen ion bombardment energy of 100 eV and reported intrinsic stresses of up to 2.8 GPa in AlN films with the c axis perpendicular to the film.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of intrinsic stress on preferred orientation in AlN thin films

Gan

Bilek

McKenzie

et al. 2004

Journal of Applied Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Articles you may be interested inSynthesis and characterization of 10nm thick piezoelectric AlN films with high c-axis orientation for miniaturized nanoelectromechanical devices Appl. Phys. Lett. Epitaxial growth and orientation of AlN thin films on Si(001) substrates deposited by reactive magnetron sputteringWe examine the effect of ion impact energy on the intrinsic stress and microstructure of aluminum nitride thin films deposited using a filtered cathodic arc. The dependence of intrinsic stress on ion impact energy is studied over the range from 0 to 350 V using dc bias and up to several kV for a fraction of the ions using pulse bias. For dc bias, the stress reaches a maximum at 200 V and decreases with further increase in ion bias. The preferred orientation of the crystallites was studied by cross-section transmission electron microscopy and diffraction. We found that there is a preference for the c crystallographic axis to lie in the plane of the film under high intrinsic stress conditions ͑4 GPa͒, whereas a c-axis orientation perpendicular to the plane of the film was observed for low intrinsic stress ͑0.25 GPa͒. We carried out calculations of the expected distribution of intensity in cross-sectional electron diffraction patterns to predict the effect of rotation freedom of crystallites with the c axis pinned. The calculated patterns agreed well with experiment.

show abstract

“…Thus, using AlN as an insulator could be essentially reduced the influence of the selfheating effect of traditional devices. In Addition, AlN thin films have a low thermal expansion coefficient, high breakdown dielectric strength, high chemical and thermal stability, and the highest reported acoustic wave velocity surface among piezoelectric materials [4,5]. All these properties make AlN a promising material for application in microelectronic and optoelectronic devices such as high power and high temperature devices, short wavelength emitters, surface acoustic wave devices (SAW), and electronic packaging [6].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlation Between Optical, Morphological, and Compositional Properties of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

AlN thin films were grown in a N2 atmosphere onto a Si/Si3N4 substrate by pulsed laser ablation. We have varied the substrate temperature for the thin film growth, using X-ray Reflectometry (XRR) analysis, we have characterized the thickness and density of the thin layer and the interface roughness from the X-ray reflectivity profiles. Experimental data showed that the root-mean-square roughness was in the range of 0.3 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to characterize the chemical composition of the films. These measurements detected carbon and oxygen contamination at the surface. In the highresolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy Al2p data, binding energies for Al-N and Al-O species were identified but no Al-Al species were present. In the N1s data, N-O species were not detected, but chemically bonded O was present in the films as Al-O species. Furthermore the value of optical energy gap, Eg was about 5.3 (± 0.1) eV. The composition varied with process conditions, and the nitrogen content decreased in AlN films processed above 500°C.

show abstract

Morphology and orientation of nanocrystalline AlN thin films

Cited by 37 publications

References 20 publications

High resolution transmission electron microscopy study on the microstructures of aluminum nitride and hydrogenated aluminum nitride films prepared by radio frequency reactive sputtering

High resolution transmission electron microscopy study on the microstructures of aluminum nitride and hydrogenated aluminum nitride films prepared by radio frequency reactive sputtering

Effect of intrinsic stress on preferred orientation in AlN thin films

Correlation Between Optical, Morphological, and Compositional Properties of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About