Abstract
Cubic rock salt structure Al 0.60Cr 0.40N and Al 0.68Cr 0.32N films of different thicknesses were grown epitaxially onto MgO(111) substrates by reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering at 500 °C. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy reveals stoichiometric nitrides with Al/Cr ratios close to the ones of the used compound targets of 60/40 and 70/30. High resolution X-ray diffraction proves epitaxial growth over the whole film thickness up to thicknesses of ∼ 1.8 μm. Reciprocal space maps and selected area electron diffraction show that the Al xCr 1−xN films grow fully relaxed. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy imaging reveals columnar microstructures with column widths between 12–16 nm and {001} surface faceting on individual columns. The fully relaxed growth and the columnar structure can be attributed to limited ad-atom mobility on the initial Al xCr 1−xN(111) growth surface.
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