Effects of argon/nitrogen sputtering gas on the microstructural, crystallographic and piezoelectric properties of AlN thin films

Abd Samad, Muhammad Izzuddin and Noor, Mimiwaty Mohd and Nayan, Nafarizal and Abu Bakar, Ahmad Shuhaimi and Mansor, Marwan and Zuhdi, Ahmad Wafi Mahmood and Hamzah, Azrul Azlan and Latif, Rhonira (2023) Effects of argon/nitrogen sputtering gas on the microstructural, crystallographic and piezoelectric properties of AlN thin films. Scripta Materialia, 226. ISSN 1359-6462, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2022.115228.

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Abstract

The growth of highly crystalline c-plane AlN (002) is extremely difficult, entailing high temperature and ultrahigh vacuum condition. In sputtering technique, the addition of nitrogen into argon sputtering gas can significantly assist the formation of AlN (002) at low temperature. We incorporated purified nitrogen gas and observed the consistent formation of single crystal (002) AlN thin film layer sputter-deposited on Mo/Si substrate from the AlN ceramic target. Small presence of oxygen content within AlN crystal relates to the preferential growth of AlN (002). High oxygen content in AlN thin film due to the use of unpurified nitrogen and argon only sputtering gas prefers the formation of AlN (100). Different AlN crystal structure has shown distinct thin film properties and piezoelectric response. This work provides a method to control the crystal structure of the sputter-deposited AlN thin film layer, either c-plane AlN (002), a-plane AlN (100) or polycrystalline AlN.

Item Type: Article
Funders: Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Grant No: FRGS/1/2021/TK0/UKM/02/16)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Piezoelectric force microscopy (PFM); Radio frequency (RF) sputtering; Crystallography; Aluminium nitride; Argon plasma
Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
T Technology > TN Mining engineering. Metallurgy
Divisions: Faculty of Science > Department of Physics
Depositing User: Ms Zaharah Ramly
Date Deposited: 29 Nov 2023 04:20
Last Modified: 29 Nov 2023 04:20
URI: http://eprints.um.edu.my/id/eprint/39247

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