Search

Aluminum nitride (AlN) film is a promising material which is used in various fields. In this study, AlN films with different plasma powers were grown by remote plasma atomic layer deposition. Saturation experiments have been applied in the plasma power between 1000 and 3000 W. The influence of plasma power on preferential orientation, chemical, optical, and electrical properties of AlN films are investigated. AlN films displayed multiphase hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure with (002) preferential orientation for higher plasma power, while the predominant orientation shifted toward (100) at lower plasma power. The optical emission spectroscopy analyses show that NH and NH2 radicals conduce to the deposition of AlN films and H radicals selectively dissociate Al–OH bonds which were on AlN film surface and etch deposition films. Atomic force microscopy measurements show that the 1500 W prepared AlN film with smallest surface roughness may be related to the relatively smaller concomitant crystal grains of (100) and (002). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigation presents that oxygen content decreases as the plasma power increases. The obtained maximum value of dielectric constant and breakdown electrical field of AlN film deposited at 3000 W is 8.23 and 5.42 MV/cm, respectively.

Hafnium oxide (HfO2) thin film has remarkable physical and chemical properties, which makes it useful for a variety of applications. In this work, HfO2 films were prepared on silicon through plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) at various substrate temperatures. The growth per cycle, structural, morphology and crystalline properties of HfO2 films were measured by spectroscopic ellipsometer, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), X-ray reflectivity (XRR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The substrate temperature dependent electrical properties of PEALD–HfO2 films were obtained by capacitance–voltage and current–voltage measurements. GIXRD patterns and XRR investigations show that increasing the substrate temperature improved the crystallinity and density of HfO2 films. The crystallinity of HfO2 films has a major effect on electrical properties of the films. HfO2 thin film deposited at 300 °C possesses the highest dielectric constant and breakdown electric field.