Low Vacuum Deposition of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films by Sputtering

Abstract

Conventionally, sputtering deposition of thin films requires a low base pressure (high vacuum) to minimize influences of residual gases. Here, a high base pressure (low vacuum) was used, which can reduce significantly the overall processing time. Aluminum nitride ( AlN ) was selected as a model system of dielectric nitrides. All the analyses revealed that the obtained films under a low vacuum environment within specific processing windows exhibited characteristics similar to those of high‐vacuum made AlN films. Such a low vacuum deposition technique takes advantages of kinetically favorable formation of the nitride films and hence, has great potentials in many more technological applications.

Effect of the base pressure achieved prior deposition on the main properties of ZnO:Al films obtained by DC magnetron sputtering at room temperature for electrical contact use

“…Similar results were observed in the properties expected for AgInSbTe 10 and B 4 C, 11 but the change in base pressure did not seem to greatly affect the desired properties of nitrides such TiN x O y 12 and AlN. 13 On the other hand, the study of the effect of base pressure on the properties of metal oxides deposited from ceramic targets such as Sn-doped In 2 O 3 (In 2 O 3 :Sn), known as indium-tin oxide (ITO), 14,15 and its better substitute as transparent conductive oxide (TCO), Al-doped ZnO (ZnO:Al), known as aluminum-zinc oxide (AZO), [16][17][18] produced interesting results. In these cases, the authors presented different outcomes regarding the effect of the base pressure on the optical and electrical properties of the deposited films, because most of the properties were studied as a function of three or four points of base pressure.…”

Urea impedimetric biosensor based on reactive RF magnetron sputtered zinc oxide nanoporous transducer

“…In reactive sputtering, the deposited thin film is formed by chemical reaction between the target materials and a reactive gas which is introduced into the vacuum chamber. Oxide and nitride films are often fabricated using reactive sputtering [49]. The composition of thin film can be controlled by varying the relative pressures of the inert and reactive gases.…”

Glucose Oxidase/Nano-ZnO/Thin Film Deposit FTO as an Innovative Clinical Transducer: A Sensitive Glucose Biosensor

“…The deposited ZnO thin film was prepared by chemical reaction of Zn atoms from the target surface and O 2 reactive gas during reactive sputtering. The metal–metal oxide composition of the nano-ZnO film can be determined by control of the pressure of Ar and O 2 gases (Kelly and Arnell, 2000 ; Baghriche et al, 2012 ; Bijad et al, 2013 ; Yao and Lu, 2013 ; Mozaffari et al, 2014 ).…”