Oxygen and hydrogen effects on the chemical vapor deposition of aluminium nitride films

Abstract

Aluminium nitride has been obtained by chemical vapor deposition using AlCl 3 and NH 3 as precursors. Progressive introduction of N 2O in the gas mixture has shown the possibility of inserting oxygen in the AlN lattice. This involves strong changes of surface morphology of the deposit and the formation of less-crystallized materials. When hydrogen is added to the gas mixture, these effects are reduced. Electron energy loss spectroscopy has shown that, in this case, oxygen is mainly concentrated on the external parts of AlN crystals, the structure of which has been found consistent with the wurtzite structure.