No abstract

A specially designed magnetron sputtering technique, the energy-filtering magnetron sputtering (EFMS) technique, was utilized to deposit aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films on Si (100) substrates. Improvements in the crystallization properties, surface morphology and optical properties of the films were studied. The results indicate that EFMS can be a useful technique for preparing high-quality thin films, which will be helpful in enabling potential applications of AlN thin film based microelectronic, optoelectronic and surface acoustic wave devices.