Abstract
Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films were grown using thermal atomic layer deposition in the temperature range of 175–350 °C. The thin films were deposited using trimethyl aluminum (TMA) and hydrazine (N2H4) as a metal precursor and nitrogen source, respectively. Highly reactive N2H4, compared to its conventionally used counterpart, ammonia (NH3), provides a higher growth per cycle (GPC), which is approximately 2.3 times higher at a deposition temperature of 300 °C and, also exhibits a low impurity concentration in as-deposited films. Low temperature AlN films deposited at 225 °C with a capping layer had an Al to N composition ratio of 1:1.1, a close to ideal composition ratio, with a low oxygen content (7.5%) while exhibiting a GPC of 0.16 nm/cycle. We suggest that N2H4 as a replacement for NH3 is a good alternative due to its stringent thermal budget.
Highlights
Aluminum nitride (AlN) is one of the promising materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices due to its wide band gap structure (6.2 eV), high thermal conductivity (2.85 W/cm·K at 300 K), melting point (2750 ◦ C), and large critical electric field (12 MV/cm) [1,2,3]
In the case of material characterization of AlN grown at 225 °C, 4 nm-thick silicon nitride (SiNx) one cycle of the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process condition was set to be: trimethyl aluminum (TMA) pulse (0.1 s)–Ar purge (15 s)–N2 H4 pulse was deposited as a capping layer in order to prevent the surface oxidation in air
AlN thin films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)
Summary
Aluminum nitride (AlN) is one of the promising materials for electronic and optoelectronic devices due to its wide band gap structure (6.2 eV), high thermal conductivity (2.85 W/cm·K at 300 K), melting point (2750 ◦ C), and large critical electric field (12 MV/cm) [1,2,3]. Abdulagatov et al recently demonstrated AlN deposition by thermal ALD using aluminum (III) (TDEAA) and hydrazine in the deposition temperature range from 150 to 280 ◦ C [13]. Previous studies revealed that the growth rate of AlN is less than 0.04 nm/cycle by thermal ALD at temperatures below 400 ◦ C using TMA and NH3 [13]. We successfully demonstrate AlN films deposition by thermal ALD at low temperatures. Ultra-pure anhydrous N2 H4 demonstrate AlN films deposition by thermal ALD at low temperatures. The growth rate and feasibility of AlN deposition using an Al ALD precursor of TMA. The growth rate surface roughness of AlN films deposited by thermal ALD using TMA and NH3 are presented. Surface roughness of AlN films deposited by thermal ALD using TMA and NH3 are presented
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