Enhancing the thermal conductivity of polymer-assisted deposited Al2O3 film by nitrogen doping

Abstract

Polymer-assisted deposition technique has been used to deposit Al2O3 and N-doped Al2O3 (AlON) thin films on Si(100) substrates. The chemical compositions, crystallinity, and thermal conductivity of the as-grown films have been characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and 3-omega method, respectively. Amorphous and polycrystalline Al2O3 and AlON thin films have been formed at 700 °C and 1000 °C. The thermal conductivity results indicated that the effect of nitrogen doping on the thermal conductivity is determined by the competition of the increase of Al—N bonding and the suppression of crystallinity. A 67% enhancement in thermal conductivity has been achieved for the samples grown at 700 °C, demonstrating that the nitrogen doping is an effective way to improve the thermal performance of polymer-assisted-deposited Al2O3 thin films at a relatively low growth temperature.