The Effects of Experimental Parameters on the Orientation of A1N Nano Films.

Aluminum nitride thin films with (100) orientation are necessary, as they are applied to surface acoustic wave devices. In this paper, A1N (100) nano thin films have been successfully deposited on Si (111) substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering. The films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction to determine their crystalline preferential orientation. The result shows that the experimental parameters including sputtering pressure, N2 concentration, target power and the distance from target to substrate (D) obviously affected crystal orientation of A1N thin films. It is found that the relationship between the mean free path of Al atoms and the distance D is important factor for the orientation of the A1N films. The optimum experimental parameters to deposit A1N (100) thin films have been found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]