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Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin-film materials possess a wide energy gap; thus, they are suitable for use in various optoelectronic devices. In this study, AlN thin films were deposited using radio frequency magnetron sputtering with an Al sputtering target and N(2) as the reactive gas. The N(2) working...

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Autores principales: Liu, Wei-Sheng, Gururajan, Balaji, Wu, Sui-Hua, Huang, Li-Cheng, Chi, Chung-Kai, Jiang, Yu-Lun, Kuo, Hsing-Chun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9503465/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36144169
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091546
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author Liu, Wei-Sheng
Gururajan, Balaji
Wu, Sui-Hua
Huang, Li-Cheng
Chi, Chung-Kai
Jiang, Yu-Lun
Kuo, Hsing-Chun
author_facet Liu, Wei-Sheng
Gururajan, Balaji
Wu, Sui-Hua
Huang, Li-Cheng
Chi, Chung-Kai
Jiang, Yu-Lun
Kuo, Hsing-Chun
author_sort Liu, Wei-Sheng
collection PubMed
description Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin-film materials possess a wide energy gap; thus, they are suitable for use in various optoelectronic devices. In this study, AlN thin films were deposited using radio frequency magnetron sputtering with an Al sputtering target and N(2) as the reactive gas. The N(2) working gas flow rate was varied among 20, 30, and 40 sccm to optimize the AlN thin film growth. The optimal AlN thin film was produced with 40 sccm N(2) flow at 500 W under 100% N(2) gas and at 600 °C. The films were studied using X-ray diffraction and had (002) phase orientation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the atomic content of the optimal film to be Al, 32%; N, 52%; and O, 12% at 100 nm beneath the surface of the thin film. The film was also investigated through atomic force microscopy and had a root mean square roughness of 2.57 nm and a hardness of 76.21 GPa. Finally, in situ continual sputtering was used to produce a gallium nitride (GaN) layer on Si with the AlN thin film as a buffer layer. The AlN thin films investigated in this study have excellent material properties, and the proposed process could be a less expensive method of growing high-quality GaN thin films for various applications in GaN-based power transistors and Si integrated circuits.
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spelling pubmed-95034652022-09-24 Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering Liu, Wei-Sheng Gururajan, Balaji Wu, Sui-Hua Huang, Li-Cheng Chi, Chung-Kai Jiang, Yu-Lun Kuo, Hsing-Chun Micromachines (Basel) Article Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin-film materials possess a wide energy gap; thus, they are suitable for use in various optoelectronic devices. In this study, AlN thin films were deposited using radio frequency magnetron sputtering with an Al sputtering target and N(2) as the reactive gas. The N(2) working gas flow rate was varied among 20, 30, and 40 sccm to optimize the AlN thin film growth. The optimal AlN thin film was produced with 40 sccm N(2) flow at 500 W under 100% N(2) gas and at 600 °C. The films were studied using X-ray diffraction and had (002) phase orientation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the atomic content of the optimal film to be Al, 32%; N, 52%; and O, 12% at 100 nm beneath the surface of the thin film. The film was also investigated through atomic force microscopy and had a root mean square roughness of 2.57 nm and a hardness of 76.21 GPa. Finally, in situ continual sputtering was used to produce a gallium nitride (GaN) layer on Si with the AlN thin film as a buffer layer. The AlN thin films investigated in this study have excellent material properties, and the proposed process could be a less expensive method of growing high-quality GaN thin films for various applications in GaN-based power transistors and Si integrated circuits. MDPI 2022-09-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9503465/ /pubmed/36144169 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091546 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Liu, Wei-Sheng
Gururajan, Balaji
Wu, Sui-Hua
Huang, Li-Cheng
Chi, Chung-Kai
Jiang, Yu-Lun
Kuo, Hsing-Chun
Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title_full Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title_fullStr Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title_full_unstemmed Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title_short Optimal Growth Conditions for Forming c-Axis (002) Aluminum Nitride Thin Films as a Buffer Layer for Hexagonal Gallium Nitride Thin Films Produced with In Situ Continual Radio Frequency Sputtering
title_sort optimal growth conditions for forming c-axis (002) aluminum nitride thin films as a buffer layer for hexagonal gallium nitride thin films produced with in situ continual radio frequency sputtering
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9503465/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36144169
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi13091546
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