Impact of cooling condition on the crystal structure and surface quality of preferred c-axis-oriented AlN films for SAW devices

Abstract

AlN films with preferred c-axis orientation are deposited on Si substrates using the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering method. The post-processing is carried out under the cooling conditions including high vacuum, low vacuum under deposition gas ambient and low vacuum under dynamic N₂ ambient. Structures and morphologies of the films are analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The hardness and Young’s modulus are investigated by the nanoindenter. The experimental results indicate that the (100) and (110) peak intensities decrease in the XRD spectra and the root-mean-square of roughness (R_rms) of the film decreases gradually with the increase of the cooling rate. The maximum values of the hardness and Young’s modulus are obtained by cooling in low vacuum under deposition gas ambient. The reason for orientation variation of the films is explained from the perspective of the Al-N bond formation.

Keywords

Surface Acoustic Wave / Cooling Condition / Apply Physic Letter / Radio Frequency Magnetron / Flow Rate Cool

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