Microstructure and thermal conductivity of epitaxial AlN thin films

Kuo, P. K.; Auner, Gregory W.; Wu, Zhouling

doi:10.1016/0040-6090(94)90324-7

Cited by 79 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A more detailed description of the PSMBE system used for this study can be found elsewhere. [17,18] After deposition and before removal from the chamber, some of the AlN films were characterized in situ using reflection highenergy electron diffraction (RHEED). The RHEED system uses a differentially pumped Staib Instruments EK-2035-R electron source.…”

Section: Experimental Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[6,8,13,15,16] In this article, we report on the XPS analysis of ten samples of AlN film deposited on silicon and sapphire substrates by a plasma source molecular beam epitaxy (PSMBE) method. [17,18] The XPS analyses were conducted using a monochromatized Al X-ray source, and all samples were depth profiled using argonion sputtering. Owing to the generally high resolution of the data collection process, particular attention has been given to the fitting of the various chemical states found within the elemental data peaks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

XPS analysis of aluminum nitride films deposited by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy

Rosenberger

Baird

McCullen

et al. 2008

Surface & Interface Analysis

291

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

aTen samples of crystalline aluminum nitride (AlN) film were deposited on sapphire and silicon substrates by a plasma source molecular beam method. The samples were analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling and high-resolution X-ray diffraction. Oxygen levels were observed to decrease exponentially from the surface into the bulk film. Aluminum, nitrogen and oxygen peaks were fitted with subpeaks in a consistent manner and the subpeaks were assigned to chemical states. AlN subpeaks were observed at 73.5 eV for Al2p and 396.4 eV for N1s. An N1s subpeak at 395.0 eV was assigned to N-N defects. No direct N-O bonds are assigned; rather it is proposed that an N-Al-O bond sequence is the source of higher binding energy N1s subpeaks. The observations in this study support a model in which oxygen is bound only to aluminum in the form of Al-O octahedral complexes dispersed or clustered throughout the main AlN matrix or as Al-O bonds on the crystal grain boundaries. The data also suggest that the AlN lattice parameters are related to oxygen content, since the c-axis is observed to increase with increasing oxygen content.

show abstract

Section: Experimental Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

XPS analysis of aluminum nitride films deposited by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy

Rosenberger

Baird

McCullen

et al. 2008

Surface & Interface Analysis

291

161

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Jacquot et al [3] measured the thermal conductivity of an AlN thin film grown on a silicon substrate by laser ablation. Kuo et al [4] showed that the thermal conductivity of AlN films is strongly dependent on the substrate. Kato et al [5] measured the in-plane thermal conductivity of AlN films using the AC calorimetric method.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Conductivity of AlN and SiC Thin Films

et al. 2006

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The thermal conductivity of AlN and SiC thin films sputtered on silicon substrates is measured employing the 3ω method. The thickness of the AlN sample is varied in the range from 200 to 2000 nm to analyze the size effect. The SiC thin films are prepared at two different temperatures, 20 and 500 • C, and the effect of deposition temperature on thermal conductivity is examined. The results reveal that the thermal conductivity of the thin films is significantly smaller than that of the same material in bulk form. The thermal conductivity of the AlN thin film is strongly dependent on the film thickness. For the case of SiC thin films, however, increased deposition temperature results in negligible change in the thermal conductivity as the temperature is below the critical temperature for crystallization. To explain the thermal conduction in the thin films, the thermal conductivity and microstructure are compared using x-ray diffraction patterns.

show abstract

“…Two obstacles to improving AlN thin film quality are the high susceptibility of AIN to impurity incorporation (particularly oxygen), and the difficulty of depositing stoichiometric, crystalline A1N at a low substrate temperature. Aluminium nitride thin films have been prepared by many methods, including chemical vapour deposition [4 6], gas-source molecular beam epitaxy [7,8], magnetron sputtering [9, 10], and ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) [11,12].The present IBAD study of A1N was undertaken to determine how the properties of A1N are affected by the energy of the ion beam (in this case nitrogen) and to examine the capabilities of IBAD in producing electronic grade thin films. This work focuses on the…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of beam voltage on the properties of aluminium nitride prepared by ion beam assisted deposition

Edgar

Carosella

Eddy

et al. 1996

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The effects of nitrogen-beam voltage on the structure, stress, energy band gap and hardness of AIN thin films deposited on Si (1 1 1), Si (1 00) and sapphire (0001) by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) are reported. As the nitrogen-beam voltage was increased from 50 to 200 V, the stress and disorder in the AIN films increased as determined by X-ray diffraction, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The preferred orientation of the film's c-axis changed from completely normal to the film at 100 V, to a mixture of normal and in the plane of the film at 200V. For AIN films deposited under the same conditions, the films were more highly oriented on sapphire (000 1) than in Si (1 1 1). The hardness of the films increased from 18.2 to 23.7 GPa with the nitrogen-beam voltage, and possible reasons for this change in hardness are considered. IntroductionAluminium nitride a wurtzite structure, wide energy band gap (6.2 eV) semiconductor -has many valuable physical properties for electronic, optoelectronic and acoustoelectronic devices, including high thermal conductivity (theoretically as high as 3.2 W m t K-t [1]), high electrical resistivity [2], high ultrasonic velocity and negative electron affinity [3]. Device applications using these properties remain largely undeveloped due to the difficulty in producing high quality A1N thin films with smooth morphologies over large areas. Two obstacles to improving AlN thin film quality are the high susceptibility of AIN to impurity incorporation (particularly oxygen), and the difficulty of depositing stoichiometric, crystalline A1N at a low substrate temperature. Aluminium nitride thin films have been prepared by many methods, including chemical vapour deposition [4 6], gas-source molecular beam epitaxy [7,8], magnetron sputtering [9, 10], and ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) [11,12].The present IBAD study of A1N was undertaken to determine how the properties of A1N are affected by the energy of the ion beam (in this case nitrogen) and to examine the capabilities of IBAD in producing electronic grade thin films. This work focuses on the

show abstract

Microstructure and thermal conductivity of epitaxial AlN thin films

Cited by 79 publications

References 18 publications

XPS analysis of aluminum nitride films deposited by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy

XPS analysis of aluminum nitride films deposited by plasma source molecular beam epitaxy

Thermal Conductivity of AlN and SiC Thin Films

Effect of beam voltage on the properties of aluminium nitride prepared by ion beam assisted deposition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About