The properties of AlN prepared by plasma nitriding and plasma source ion implantation techniques

Abstract

The formation of aluminum nitride (AlN) layer on 1050 aluminum substrate has been successfully performed by a low pressure plasma nitriding process and a plasma source ion implantation process. In the plasma nitriding (PN) process, a relatively thick and uniform stable h.c.p.-AlN layer of ∼20 μm has been obtained from a gas pressure of 400 Pa N 2 gas at 480°C. In PSII technique, a metastable f.c.c.-AlN layer has been consistently observed in the implantation dose levels between 7×10 17 and 1.8×10 18 ions/cm 2. In addition an apparent peak separation between metastable f.c.c.-AlN and f.c.c.-Al phase has been observed in the XRD spectrum using a long wavelength (λ=2.29 Å) of Cr Kα X-ray.