The growth of AlN films composed of silkworm-shape grains and the orientation mechanism

摘要

The oriented aluminum nitride (AlN) films on Si (100) substrates were prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering. It was found that with a low sputtering pressure, it has a high nucleation rate and the (001)-oriented grains are dominant in films. With a high sputtering pressure, the film is mainly consisted of the (100)-and (110)-oriented grains. In the images of atomic force microscopy, the grains show a silkworm-like shape and their long axis is directed along the c-axis of hexagonal AlN. The mechanism about the orientation and the silkworm shape grains were discussed.