Study of optical and structural properties of sputtered aluminum nitride films with controlled oxygen content to fabricate Distributed Bragg Reflectors for ultraviolet A

Abstract

Aluminum nitride (AlN) films with controlled oxygen content were deposited on silicon substrates, and optical properties studied with dependency on film morphology. Combinations of argon (Ar) and nitrogen (N2) gases were used in RF magnetron sputtering of an AlN target. The resulting refractive index ranging from 1.6 to 2.0 at 400 nm was tuned by controlling the sputter gas flow rate ratio of Ar and N2. The resulting refractive index is associated with density and aluminum nitride content of the thin films. Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) optimized for ultraviolet-A reflectivity were fabricated with pairs of alternating AlN thin films using an explicit combination of low-n and high-n to further investigate the thin film optical properties. The effect of structural transformation in the DBR stack on the progress of optical properties was studied. The DBRs exhibit a negligible extinction coefficient, utilizing precise control of oxygen incorporation with one sputtering target.