Aluminium Nitride (AlN)

Innovative technique for tailoring intrinsic stress in reactively sputtered piezoelectric aluminum nitride films (2009) Process dual cathode ac powered S-Gun magnetron Al target 99.999% Temperature Ambient (no external heating) Temperature in process < 250oC Ar gas 4 sccm N2 gas 14 - 15 sccm Cathode power 5.5 kW Frequency 40 kHz Depo. rate 50 to 90 nm/min Results Orientation FWHM FWHM Stress range Thickness

(002) 2o @ 200 nm 1o @ 2000 nm -700 to +300 MPa 100 - 3000 nm

Residual stress stability in fiber textured stoichiometric AlN film grown using RF magnetron sputtering (2010) Process RF magnetron sputtering (Leybold Z550) Base pressure < 10-7 Torr Sputtering Pressure 4.5 x 10-4 Torr Temperature 24oC Temperature in process < 150oC Frequency 13.56 MHz Al target 99.999% Ar gas 99.999% (70 sccm) N2 gas 99.999% (40 sccm) Target - Substrate dist. 90 mm Substrate -ve bias volt. 100 V RF power 1340 W Results Orientation FWHM FWHM Stress range Thickness

N/A N/A N/A N/A 164 nm

prior to deposition: substrate sputter cleaned in Ar plasma for 60s target pre-sputtered for 60s RBS measurements:

Tilted fiber texture in AlN thin films (2007). Process DC magnetron sputtering Base pressure 10-7 to 10-8 Torr Sputtering Pressure 1.5 x 10-3 Torr Temperature Room temperature Temperature in process < 150oC Frequency N/A Al target 99.999% Ar gas N/A N2 gas N/A Target - Substrate dist. N/A Substrate -ve bias volt. N/A DC power 100 W Depo. rate 0.8 to 1.3 nm/min Results Orientation FWHM FWHM Stress range Thickness 150 - 250 nm prior to deposition: Al target pre-sputtered in pure Ar each time

Microstructure and chemical wet etching characteristics of AlN films deposited by ac reactive magnetron sputtering (2009). Process Base pressure Sputtering Pressure Temperature Temperature in process Frequency Al target Ar gas N2 gas Target - Substrate dist. Substrate -ve bias volt. DC power Depo. rate Results Orientation FWHM FWHM Stress range Thickness