Smooth and oriented AlN thin films deposited by laser ablation and their application for SAW devices

Abstract

Aluminum nitride films of up to 1.2 μm thickness were deposited by excimer laser ablation onto c-, r-, m-, and a-cut sapphire substrates. The films were found to be of (00.1), (11.0), (10.0) and (00.1) orientation on c-, r-, m- and a-cut sapphire substrates, respectively. XRD pole figure measurements showed good in-plane alignment of all three sample sets. AFM measurements reveal that all films were atomically smooth in the initial stages of growth. Furthermore, for AlN(11.0) on r-cut sapphire the film surface remained smooth, with an r.m.s. roughness of about 1 nm up to a film thickness of 1.2 μm. AlN films with the polar c-axis parallel to the film surface are particularly favourable for SAW device applications, since the c-axis direction yields the strongest coupling coefficient. A smooth surface, as for AlN(11.0), is essential to prevent scattering of propagating surface acoustic waves. A SAW r.f. filter was fabricated with interdigital transducers of 5.6 μm wavelength on top of a 1.2 μm AlN(11.0) film on r-cut sapphire. The resonance frequency of 1.068 GHz corresponds well to theoretical expectations for the SAW velocity in this propagation geometry.