AlN and AlScN thin films with 27% scandium (Sc) were synthesized by DC magnetron sputtering deposition and used to fabricate surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Compared with AlN-based devices, the AlScN SAW devices exhibit much better transmission properties. Scandium doping results in electromechanical coupling coefficient, K2, in the range of 2.0% ∼ 2.2% for a wide normalized thickness range, more than a 300% increase compared to that of AlN-based SAW devices, thus demonstrating the potential applications of AlScN in high frequency resonators, sensors, and high efficiency energy harvesting devices. The coupling coefficients of the present AlScN based SAW devices are much higher than that of the theoretical calculation based on some assumptions for AlScN piezoelectric material properties, implying there is a need for in-depth investigations on the material properties of AlScN.

Aluminium nitride (AlN) is a promising material for challenging sensor applications such as process monitoring in harsh environments (e.g., turbine exhaust), due to its piezoelectric properties, its high temperature stability and good thermal match to silicon. Basically, the operational temperature of piezoelectric materials is limited by the increase of the leakage current as well as by enhanced diffusion effects in the material at elevated temperatures. This work focuses on the characterization of aluminum nitride thin films after post deposition annealings up to temperatures of 1000 °C in harsh environments. For this purpose, thin film samples were temperature loaded for 2 h in pure nitrogen and oxygen gas atmospheres and characterized with respect to the film stress and the leakage current behaviour. The X-ray diffraction results show that AlN thin films are chemically stable in oxygen atmospheres for 2 h at annealing temperatures of up to 900 °C. At 1000 °C, a 100 nm thick AlN layer oxidizes completely. For nitrogen, the layer is stable up to 1000 °C. The activation energy of the samples was determined from leakage current measurements at different sample temperatures, in the range between 25 and 300 °C. Up to an annealing temperature of 700 °C, the leakage current in the thin film is dominated by Poole-Frenkel behavior, while at higher annealing temperatures, a mixture of different leakage current mechanisms is observed.

This paper investigates the performance of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices consisting of reactively sputter deposited scandium doped aluminum nitride (ScxAl1-xN) thin films as piezoelectric layers on sapphire substrates for wireless sensor or for RF-MEMS applications. To investigate the influence of piezoelectric film thickness on the device properties, samples with thickness ranging from 500 nm up to 3000 nm are fabricated. S21 measurements and simulations demonstrate that the phase velocity is predominantly influenced by the mass density of the electrode material rather than by the thickness of the piezoelectric film. Additionally, the wave propagation direction is varied by rotating the interdigital transducer structures with respect to the crystal orientation of the substrate. The phase velocity is about 2.5% higher for a-direction compared to m-direction of the sapphire substrate, which is in excellent agreement with the difference in the anisotropic Young's modulus of the substrate corresponding to these directions.

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