Growth and Characterization of Polyimide-Supported AlN Films for Flexible Surface Acoustic Wave Devices

Abstract

Highly c-axis oriented aluminum nitride (AlN) films, which can be used in flexible surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices, were successfully deposited on polyimide (PI) substrates by direct current reactive magnetron sputtering without heating. The sputtering power, film thickness, and deposition pressure were optimized. The characterization studies show that at the optimized conditions, the deposited AlN films are composed of columnar grains, which penetrate through the entire film thickness (~2 μm) and exhibit an excellent (0002) texture with a full width at half maximum value of the rocking curve equal to 2.96°. The film surface is smooth with a root mean square value of roughness of 3.79 nm. SAW prototype devices with a center frequency of about 520 MHz and a phase velocity of Rayleigh wave of about 4160 m/s were successfully fabricated using the AlN/PI composite structure. The obtained results demonstrate that the highly c-axis oriented AlN films with a smooth surface and low stress can be produced on relatively rough, flexible substrates, and this composite structure can be possibly used in flexible SAW devices.