AVS 50th International Symposium
    Thin Films Wednesday Sessions
       Session TF-WeP

Paper TF-WeP28
Control of Crystalline Evolution in Aluminum Nitride Thin Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Wednesday, November 5, 2003, 11:00 am, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: V.M. Pantojas, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
Authors: V.M. Pantojas, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
E. García, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
N.R. Ramos, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
W. Otaño, University of Puerto Rico at Cayey
Correspondent: Click to Email
There is considerable interest in the growth of Aluminum Nitride (AlN) thin films for the fabrication of mechanical, optical and surface acoustic wave devices. The properties of polycrystalline AlN thin films depend strongly on the crystallographic orientation and texture of the grains and it is important to have an adequate control of the crystalline characteristics in order to achieve good performance for specific properties. Thin AlN films were prepared using magnetron sputtering. The relationship between the sputtering deposition process parameters and the coating characteristics, and properties, were investigated using Response Surface Design methodology. The deposition pressure, gas composition and substrate temperature were used as factor levels to characterize the response of the most important characteristics, crystallinity and stoichiometry. The evolution of crystal orientation in AlN thin films was analyzed using an x-ray diffraction system with a general area detector. The two dimensional, position sensitive area detector allows for fast collection of the x-ray scattering data and provides the unique capability of directly imaging the orientation of the diffraction pattern. The degree of crystal orientation of the AlN samples varied from completely polycrystalline to highly oriented depending on the deposition conditions. In order to quantify the degree of crystallinity, an integration method was used. The three main peaks of hexagonal AlN were integrated along a rectangular slit at the center of the detector to quantify the degree of in-plane orientation and a texture coefficient was calculated for each crystal orientation.