Well-defined (0001)-oriented aluminum nitride polycrystalline films on amorphous glass substrates deposited by ion plating with direct-current arc discharge

摘要

500-nm-thick aluminum nitride (AlN) polycrystalline films were deposited on amorphous glass substrates at a substrate temperature of 200 degrees C by ion plating (IP) with direct-current (DC) arc discharge, radio frequency (RF) and DC reactive magnetron sputtering (MS). The IP technique enables a very high deposition rate of 113 nm/min compared with that of MS techniques. The structural properties of AlN films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and electron probe micro analyzer (EPMA) measurements. XRD results show that AlN films with a columnar grain structure deposited by IP have a texture with a well-defined (0001) orientation between grains normal to the substrate, whereas AlN films grown by MS have a mixture of (0001) planes and planes with other orientations. Raman spectroscopy and XRD measurement results revealed high residual compressive stress in AlN films deposited by IP compared with that in AlN films grown by MS. The analysis of the data obtained by EPMA measurement showed that IP produces AlN films with a small amount of remaining oxygen species, whereas MS produces AlN films with a large amount of residual oxygen species.