Texture of the nano-crystalline AlN thin films and the growth conditions in DC magnetron sputtering

Khan, Sardar; Shahid, Muhammad; Mahmood, Asif; Shah, Ajmal; Ahmed, Ishaq; Mehmood, Mazhar; Aziz, Uzma; Raza, Qaisar; Alam, Mohammad Mumtaz

doi:10.1016/j.pnsc.2015.08.006

Cited by 48 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Since the flows of Ar (impinging on the aluminum target) and N 2 respectively provide the sources of Al and N ions, the Ar/N 2 ratio plays a decisive role in the stoichiometry and atomic stacking of AlN. Despite the polycrystalline substrate (Figure S1(b) in Supporting Information), the XRD scans reveal the dominant (002) peak in all three Ar/N 2 combinations, and similar results were reported by other groups . It is believed that the major (002) peak is caused by the sputtered layer texture with grains that are elongated along the c ‐axis, as suggested in Figure S2(a) in Supporting Information.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…It is believed that the major (002) peak is caused by the sputtered layer texture with grains that are elongated along the c ‐axis, as suggested in Figure S2(a) in Supporting Information. In a sputtering process, high RF power (>200 W) and properly increased N 2 fraction generally promote the growth along the [002] direction, owing to the large Al‐N bond energy in the (002) plane and the mitigated grain randomization from the high‐energy ion bombardment . In the figure, one can see that integrated intensity ratios of the (002) peak to the (103) peak, that is I (002) / I (103) , increases from 8.5 to 21.9 when the Ar/N 2 ratio decreases from 16/4 to 15/5, which can be due to the decreased impact of the heavy Ar ions on the depositing species, suppressing the growth in other directions.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self‐Assembly Semipolar AlN Nanopyramids Grown on Powder‐Compressed AlN Substrates

Lee

Lin

Huang

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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AlN nanopyramids with semipolar facets are grown by metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on the AlN substrate attained with compressed AlN powders. Surface qualities of the polycrystalline substrate are improved with an AlN buffer layer deposited by sputtering, followed by appropriate post annealing. It is found that a pulsed flow condition of ammonia (NH3) during the MOCVD growth can effectively enhance morphologic uniformity and crystallinity of the nanopyramids. The semipolar AlN nanopyramids serve as a promising template for ultraviolet emitters, considering their increased surface area and reduced polarization fields.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐Assembly Semipolar AlN Nanopyramids Grown on Powder‐Compressed AlN Substrates

Lee

Lin

Huang

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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“…Competitive columnar growth between (111)-and (200)-oriented ZrN crystallites during sputter-deposition of ZrN monolithic films was discussed previously [23,35]. The (200) preferred orientation is characteristic for CrN films [39,40], as well as (002) preferred orientation is typical for h-AlN films [41][42][43]. Torino et al [42] reported a transition from (101) to (002) preferred orientation for AlN films with decreasing (Ar + N 2 ) working pressure in the chamber.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Structural Properties and Oxidation Resistance of ZrN/SiNx, CrN/SiNx and AlN/SiNx Multilayered Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering Technique

et al. 2020

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In the present work, the structure, stress state and phase composition of MeN/SiNx (Me = Zr, Cr, Al) multilayered films with the thickness of elementary layers in nanoscale range, as well as their stability to high temperature oxidation, were studied. Monolithic (reference) and multilayered films were deposited on Si substrates at the temperatures of 300 °C (ZrN/SiNx and AlN/SiNx systems) or 450 °C (CrN/SiNx) by reactive magnetron sputtering. The thickness ratios of MeN to SiNx were 5 nm/2 nm, 5 nm/5 nm, 5 nm/10 nm and 2 nm/5 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray Reflectivity (XRR) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) testified to the uniform alternation of MeN and SiNx layers with sharp interlayer boundaries. It was observed that MeN sublayers have a nanocrystalline structure with (001) preferred orientation at 5 nm, but are X-ray amorphous at 2 nm, while SiNx sublayers are always X-ray amorphous. The stability of the coatings to oxidation was investigated by in situ XRD analysis (at the temperature range of 400–950 °C) along with the methods of wavelength-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after air annealing procedure. Reference ZrN and CrN films started to oxidize at the temperatures of 550 and 700 °C, respectively, while the AlN reference film was thermally stable up to 950 °C. Compared to reference monolithic films, MeN/SiNx multilayers have an improved oxidation resistance (onset of oxidation is shifted by more than 200 °C), and the performance is enhanced with increasing fraction of SiNx layer thickness. Overall, CrN/SiNx and AlN/SiNx multilayered films are characterized by noticeably higher resistance to oxidation as compared to ZrN/SiNx multilayers, the best performance being obtained for CrN/SiNx and AlN/SiNx with 5 nm/5 nm and 5 nm/10 nm periods, which remain stable at least up to 950 °C.

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“…orientation [29]. The precise values of the (002) peak positions at different substrate temperatures are recorded in Table I.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The precise values of the (002) peak positions at different substrate temperatures are recorded in Table I. The other minor diffraction peaks can be seen at 38º and 50º, depicting to (101) and (102) orientations, respectively [29]. The percentage of (002) to other AlN crystal orientations is calculated between 77 to 99 % for all samples by measuring the area under the curve.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The sputtering of AlN films on top of on- and off-axis 3C-SiC (111)/Si (111) substrates at various substrate temperatures

Iqbal

Walker

Hold

et al. 2017

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

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AlN thin films have been sputtered on top of the on-axis and 4 o off-axis 3C-SiC (111)/Si (111) substrates at various substrate temperatures. The grazing angle incident XRD scans show that all films have major peak at (002) plane and minor peaks at (101) and (102) planes. The AlN films are further characterized in terms of the FWHM of the rocking curve, surface morphology and deposition rate. We observed that the increasing substrate temperature improve the crystal quality of the AlN (002) films, but it has minimal impact on the surface roughness and deposition rate. We also extracted the values for the bi-axial stress, the grain size and the piezoelectric coefficient. Overall, the off-axis 3C-SiC/Si (111) substrates provide a better template for the sputtering of AlN (002) films in term of better crystal quality, lower surface roughness and lower bi-axial stress.

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Texture of the nano-crystalline AlN thin films and the growth conditions in DC magnetron sputtering

Cited by 48 publications

References 34 publications

Self‐Assembly Semipolar AlN Nanopyramids Grown on Powder‐Compressed AlN Substrates

Self‐Assembly Semipolar AlN Nanopyramids Grown on Powder‐Compressed AlN Substrates

Structural Properties and Oxidation Resistance of ZrN/SiNx, CrN/SiNx and AlN/SiNx Multilayered Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering Technique

The sputtering of AlN films on top of on- and off-axis 3C-SiC (111)/Si (111) substrates at various substrate temperatures

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