Off-axis growth of AlN thin films by hollow cathode magnetron sputtering under various nitrogen concentrations

Abstract

Amorphous and crystalline AlN thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by off-axis hollow cathode magnetron technique. The evolution of the crystalline orientation and the morphology of AlN thin films have been investigated depending on the nitrogen concentration. It has been demonstrated by using a combination of mass spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy techniques, that the film crystallinity and surface roughness are related with the nitrogen concentration. The results show that the monitoring of Al+ and AlN+ species by mass spectrometry proved to be an important new method to prescribe the plasma conditions for growing amorphous or crystalline films. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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