Aluminum Nitride Research Articles

Metal‐Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition Grown Low‐Temperature Aluminum Nitride Gate Dielectric for Gallium Nitride on Si High Electron Mobility Transistor

Gate dielectrics for gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology have always been challenging because of the nonideal semiconductor–dielectric interface, which leads to electronic traps. Plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition are standard techniques, but they require surface treatment and post‐annealing to control these traps. This article explores metal organic chemical vapor deposition‐grown in situ aluminum nitride (AlN) as a gate dielectric. The interface is expected to be pristine as there is no change in the chamber environment. A thin (10 nm) AlN layer is deposited at a low temperature to minimize strain and prevent the formation of an unwanted conductive channel within the device. The electrical and structural properties of this AlN‐capped HEMT are compared to a standard GaN‐capped HEMT, including temperature‐dependent studies. The results show that the AlN‐capped HEMT retains a higher charge in the channel while having an order of magnitude lower gate leakage than the GaN‐capped sample. Furthermore, the AlN‐capped HEMT performs similarly to the GaN‐capped HEMT in terms of temperature‐dependent leakage, dynamic on‐resistance, and temperature coefficient of resistance.

Thermal shock behavior of Al–Y2O3 doped aluminum nitride ceramics

Thermal shock resistance and mechanical reliability of aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic substrates are essential in electronic device modules. In this study, the thermal shock behavior of AlN doped with aluminum - yttrium oxide (Al - Y2O3) was explored. The results indicate that adding Al to AlN ceramics increases its flexural strength, thermal conductivity, and thermal expansion coefficient. The microcracks caused by thermal mismatch between the AlN matrix and the secondary phases relieved internal stress, thereby improving thermal shock resistance of AlN ceramics. Furthermore, the addition of Al isolates and homogenizes the secondary phases, resulting in a more uniform microstructure and strengthened grain boundaries, which enhance the flexural strength, Weibull modulus, and thermal shock resistance. After introducing 0.5 wt% Al, the Weibull modulus of AlN ceramics increased by 73.37 %, and their critical thermal shock temperature difference exceeded 800 °C, with a maximum residual strength of 488.01 ± 48.26 MPa at 600 °C. Overall, an appropriate amount of Al improves the reliability and thermal shock resistance of AlN ceramics.

Multidomain simulations of aluminum nitride with machine-learned force fields

Multidomain simulations of aluminum nitride with machine-learned force fields

Cold Gas Spraying Copper Metal On AlN Ceramics as an Alternative to Thick DBC Substrates for Power Electronics

Abstract This study investigates the use of cold gas spraying (CGS) as a low-temperature additive manufacturing method to bond copper onto aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates for electronic packaging of high-power applications. While direct bond copper (DBC) technique is commonly used, it has limitations due to the large mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion, which affects substrate reliability. This work employed cold gas spraying (CGS) to mechanically bond Cu on AlN. The study explores the effect of multiple sprays, spray angle and spraying direction on deposition thickness, coating surface roughness, and deposited volume through a factorial design of experiments (DOE). The results, based on optical and scanning electron microscopy combined with profilometry data, showed that coatings sprayed at a 60° angle had a smoother profile topography and less surface roughness than those sprayed at a 90° angle. After depositing 10 layers, a surface roughness (Sa) of around 30 µm and a coating thickness of over 300 µm were successfully attained. These findings provide valuable insights into the processing factors affecting the growth and quality of copper coatings on AlN substrates via multiple sprays, thus enabling the realization of CGS technology as a potential solution to DBC substrates for electronic packaging of wide-bandgap semiconductors.

Influence of aluminum addition on structure, hardness, and oxidation resistance of Ta1−xAlxN thin films

Ta1−xAlxN thin films with 5, 15, and 40 at.% Al addition were co‐deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering and characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), grazing angle X‐ray diffraction (GAXRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nanohardness, and oxidation tests. GAXRD and XPS analyses showed, regardless of the % Al added, the non‐existence of ternary nitride Ta1−xAlxN, but always as individual binary nitrides, TaN and AlN. Sample TaAlN_15 obtained the highest hardness and H3/E2 values, possibly due to the AlN grains presence, which were efficient in distorting the TaN lattice. All samples failed oxidation tests at 873 K, showing that the Al addition was not efficient in improving this property for tantalum aluminum nitride thin films.

Adsorption behavior of HFCO and COF2 gasses on pristine, Al-doped, and N-doped (8, 0) single-wall carbon nanotubes and pristine aluminum nitride nanotube: A first-principles study

The detection of organic pollutants in the environment is crucial due to their significant impact on human health. Formyl fluoride (HFCO) and carbonyl fluoride (COF2) are toxic gasses that contribute to stratospheric ozone depletion. To explore a potential sensor material for these compounds, the adsorption properties of HFCO and COF2 on pristine (8, 0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), aluminum-doped SWCNTs (Al-SWCNTs), nitrogen-doped SWCNTs (N-SWCNTs), and aluminum nitride nanotube (AlNNTs) were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Obtained structural and electronic results reveal no significant after HFCO and COF2 adsorption on pristine SWCNT. However, the conductivity and polarizability of Al- SWCNT increases throw HFCO and COF2 adsorption. It was shown that this adsorption strongly depends on molecular orientation toward SWCNT. Structural and electronic findings show that studied molecules undergoes a physical adsorption to N- SWCNT. However, AlNNT was also found to show significant changes in structural and electronic properties after HFCO and COF2 adsorption. This adsorption leads to a significant (nearly 45%) reduction in the HOMO-LUMO gap of AlNNTs. Therefore, it is proposed from this study that Al-SWCNTs and AlNNTs are promising candidates for HFCO and COF2 gas sensors. Moreover, AlNNTs exhibit intrinsic detection capabilities without structural manipulation via doping which makes AlNNTs particularly attractive for sensor applications. Moreover, the capability of AlNNT without manipulating makes this nanotube a good and easy made candidate for these compounds adsorption.

Experimental investigation of Aluminum Nitride ceramics based on compliant finishing process

Aluminum Nitride (AlN), as a type of advanced functional ceramic material, has found wide applications in many fields, owing to its advantageous properties such as excellent thermal conductivity, high hardness and strength, etc. Nevertheless, these beneficial features bring great challenges to its machinability using current existing methods that commonly result in unsatisfactory surface qualities. In this paper, we investigated the processing performance of AlN by introducing the compliant bonnet finishing approach based on different tool bonding materials and abrasive sizes. The distinctive finishing qualities, material removal rates, tool wear behavior, etc., were studied and compared under various process conditions. Unlike other ceramics, resin bonded diamond tools with a 3 μm abrasive size exhibit significant wear when used on AlN ceramics. The curves for tool wear amount and wear rate are investigated. Meanwhile, compliant tool with the smaller abrasive can obtain the sub-50 nm surface roughness. The comparison with traditional rigid pellet finishing further demonstrates the advantageous finishing performances by using compliant tools on the AlN ceramics.

Quantum emitters in aluminum nitride induced by heavy ion irradiation

The integration of solid-state single-photon sources with foundry-compatible photonic platforms is crucial for practical and scalable quantum photonic applications. This study explores aluminum nitride (AlN) as a material with properties highly suitable for integrated on-chip photonics and the ability to host defect-center related single-photon emitters. We have conducted a comprehensive analysis of the creation of single-photon emitters in AlN, utilizing heavy ion irradiation and thermal annealing techniques. Subsequently, we have performed a detailed analysis of their photophysical properties. Guided by theoretical predictions, we assessed the potential of Zirconium (Zr) ions to create optically addressable spin defects and employed Krypton (Kr) ions as an alternative to target lattice defects without inducing chemical doping effects. With a 532 nm excitation wavelength, we found that single-photon emitters induced by ion irradiation were primarily associated with vacancy-type defects in the AlN lattice for both Zr and Kr ions. The density of these emitters increased with ion fluence, and there was an optimal value that resulted in a high density of emitters with low AlN background fluorescence. Under a shorter excitation wavelength of 405 nm, Zr-irradiated AlN exhibited isolated point-like emitters with fluorescence in the spectral range theoretically predicted for spin-defects. However, similar defects emitting in the same spectral range were also observed in AlN irradiated with Kr ions as well as in as-grown AlN with intrinsic defects. This result is supportive of the earlier theoretical predictions, but at the same time highlights the difficulties in identifying the sought-after quantum emitters with interesting properties related to the incorporation of Zr ions into the AlN lattice by fluorescence alone. The results of this study largely contribute to the field of creating quantum emitters in AlN by ion irradiation and direct future studies emphasizing the need for spatially localized Zr implantation and testing for specific spin properties.

Influence of the sintering methods on the electrical properties of cerium-doped aluminium nitride ceramics

This article investigates the densification of AlN ceramics through both Gas Pressure Sintering (GPS) and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) methods, employing cerium aluminates (CeAlO3) as sintering aids and comparing their influence to that of the usual cerium oxide (CeO2). While sintering aids like CeO2 promote densification, CeAlO3 exhibited lower reactivity during both SPS and GPS sintering. Chemical reactions between cerium oxide and aluminium oxide primarily involved the reduced phase as cerium sesquioxide (Ce2O3). On the basis on the Ce2O3–Al2O3 pseudo-binary system, the formation of secondary phases, such as CeAlO3 and CeAl11O18, during sintering was explained and confirmed by XRD. From complementary characterizations, it has been shown that sintering significantly impacted secondary phase composition and distribution. By employing specific densification cycles, SPS yielded smaller grains and thicker secondary phase cordons which led to enhanced electrical conductivity. Conversely, GPS produced coarser microstructures including larger grains and a network of secondary phases and some agglomerations at the triple points. These modifications influenced the overall conductivity. SPSed samples with 3 wt.% CeO2 and short dwelling times demonstrated higher electrical conductivity, exceeding by about 6 orders of magnitude the electrical conductivity of those obtained by GPS.

MoS2-assisted growth of highly-oriented AlN thin films by low-temperature van der Waals epitaxy

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a wide bandgap material used in acoustic devices, piezo- micro-electromechanical system and is promising for other electronic applications. However, for most applications, the AlN crystalline quality obtained by PVD or MOCVD is insufficient, and suitable growth substrates providing an adapted lattice match and coefficient of thermal expansion are limited. Alternatively, monocrystalline AlN wafers are not yet available in 200/300 mm sizes and suffer from high costs and quality issues. Here, we propose a novel approach involving a two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) material as a seed layer, which displays an excellent lattice matching with AlN (>98%) allowing a strong enhancement in the c axis texture of sputtered AlN layers on Si(100)/SiO2 thermal oxide (500 nm) substrates. We have successfully demonstrated an eightfold improvement of the AlN (002) rocking curve compared to reference samples grown on thermal SiO2, thus providing a relevant and cost-effective process for the large-scale deployment of high-quality III-N materials on silicon-based substrates.

Enhancing the Flexural Strength of AlN with an Additional Cross-Linking Mechanism in the Aqueous Isobam Gelling System.

Isobam is widely used for fabricating ceramics through spontaneous gelation and has attracted considerable interest. However, the disadvantage of the Isobam system is the low gelation strength. The effects of suitable additives and the mechanism by which they effectively enhance the green body strength and the rheological behavior of an aluminum nitride (AlN) slurry with 50 vol% solid loading were investigated using polyethyleneimine (PEI), hydantoin epoxy resin, and trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether (TMPGE). Results showed that the additives acted as both dispersants and cross-linkers in the AlN suspension using the Isobam gelling system. The flexural strength of the AlN green body increased by 42%, 204%, and 268% with the addition of 1 wt% PEI, 1 wt% hydantoin epoxy resin, and 0.5 wt% TMPGE, respectively. After sintering at 1700 °C, the AlN ceramic with 0.5 wt% TMPGE had flexural strength and thermal conductivity of 235 MPa and 166.44 W/(m·K), respectively, showing superior performance to the ceramics without additives.

A scandium doped aluminum nitride thin film bulk acoustic resonator

Currently, we stand at the forefront of revolutionary advancements in communication technology. The escalating demands of advanced communication necessitate enhanced performance from materials and radio frequency devices. This paper aims to enhance film performance by depositing scandium-doped aluminum nitride (ScAlN) directly onto a Si substrate. Additionally, ScAlN was deposited on SiO2/AlN/Mo functional layers for comparison purposes. The ScAlN directly deposited on Si demonstrated superior performance in terms of crystalline quality and surface roughness, with a full width at half maximum of 1.7° and a roughness of 1.76 nm. Furthermore, a film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) based on the ScAlN film directly deposited on Si was successfully fabricated through thin-film transfer, with critical processes achieved via bonding and wet-etching of the substrate. The ScAlN in the fabricated resonator exhibited a favorable c-axis preferred orientation. The resulting ScAlN-based FBAR displayed a quality factor of 429. This study lays the groundwork for exciting opportunities in the development of higher-performance piezoelectric materials and devices.

Structural, electronic and optical properties of anisotropic AlN/BP van der Waals heterostructures with high carrier mobility and remarkable optical absorption

The structural, electronic and optical properties of van der Waals heterostructures (vdWHs) of AlN/BP 2D layers have been investigated. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, six distinct vertical arrangements of insulating plates composed of aluminum nitride (AlN) and boron phosphide (BP) examined. All six AlN/BP-XX (XX = AA, BB, CC, DD, EE, FF) heterostructures exhibit direct bandgap behavior with type-I band alignment. These heterostructures exhibit remarkable optical absorption in the visible and near-infrared regions, and at room temperature, charge carriers exhibit relatively high mobility for holes in one direction and for electrons in the perpendicular direction.All these six AlN/BP vdWHs have high carrier mobility (of the order of 105cm2V-1s-1), which is comparable to materials with high carrier mobility such as graphene. The energy gap of the AlN and BP monolayers are 4.04 eV and 1.4 eV, respectively, by HSE06 approximation, and for AlN/BP heterostructures are about 1.428 eV to 1.550 eV for all cases. The CBO and VBO of the AlN/BP vdWHs heterostructures are 2.21157 eV and 0.2057 eV, respectively.

An acoustic pressure-gradient MEMS vector hydrophone system based on piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer array

This article presents an acoustic pressure-gradient MEMS vector hydrophone system, which consists of a 2 × 2 piezoelectric scalar hydrophone array and a microcontroller unit (MCU)-based signal-conditioning circuit. The reported scalar hydrophone is fabricated based on a scandium-doped aluminum nitride (Sc0.2Al0.8N) piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducer (PMUT) array. Four identical scalar hydrophones are adopted and arranged in a 2 × 2 array for detecting the acoustic pressure gradient along different incident angles. The received electrical signals in each scalar hydrophone are collected and processed by the MCU directly. Experimental results show that the vector hydrophone system has a receive sensitivity of −168 dB (re: 1 V/μPa) in the omnidirectional receive mode, and a receive sensitivity of −198 dB (re: 1 V/μPa) at 10 kHz in the dipole receive mode, respectively. With the aid of an advanced data preprocessing approach, the reported vector hydrophone system achieves the direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimations of underwater acoustic signals with an error of less than 2°. The measurement results show that the reported MEMS vector hydrophone system has the potential for the detection of underwater sound sources.

Structural and optical properties of epitaxial ScxAl1−xN coherently grown on GaN bulk substrates by sputtering method

Three scandium aluminum nitride (ScAlN) thin films with different Sc compositions of 6%, 10%, and 14% were heteroepitaxially grown on n-type GaN bulk substrates by a low-temperature sputtering method. Atomically flat and smooth surfaces were observed by atomic force microscopy. The ScAlN films were coherently grown on GaN, and the c-axis lattice constants increased with increase in the Sc composition, confirmed by x-ray diffraction. The refractive index and the extinction coefficient of ScAlN were extracted by variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. The refractive index slightly increased and the extinction coefficient showed red shift with increase in the Sc composition. The optical bandgap of the ScAlN films was also extracted, which slightly shrunk with increase in the Sc composition.

Compressive stress reduction in sputter-deposited yttrium aluminum nitride (Y0.2Al0.8N) thin films for BAW resonators with high electromechanical coupling

In the past decade, rare earth elements have found increasing interest in enhancing the piezoelectric coefficient of aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films. Until now, scandium has been the most successful rare earth element to enhance the piezoelectric coefficient (d33) up to 600 %. In this research paper, we present a 250 % increase in d33 to 12.5 pC/N for sputter-deposited yttrium alloyed aluminum nitride (Y0.2Al0.8N) thin films compared to pure AlN. However, this increase in d33 comes with a substantial increase in compressive layer stress well above 1 GPa. Therefore, a chamber pressure sweep technique is introduced, resulting in a 40 % reduction in the stress level without significantly affecting the crystallographic film parameters to facilitate device integration. Even more, high compressive stress in thin films is a critical concern in piezoelectric MEMS devices such as bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonators, as it can adversely affect the piezoelectric material properties and hence, the electromechanical performance. For this purpose, we demonstrate that the pressure sweep technique improves the electromechanical coupling factor of Y0.2Al0.8N to 7.02 %, being substantially above the reference value of 6.02 % set by pure AlN. In summary, the findings from this study may stimulate further effort to integrate YxAl1-xN thin films in BAW filter devices for future telecommunication applications.

Improved thermal conductivity of immiscible polyamide 6 (PA6)/polyolefin elastomer (POE) blend by controlling selective localization of aluminum nitride (AlN)

Improved thermal conductivity of immiscible polyamide 6 (PA6)/polyolefin elastomer (POE) blend by controlling selective localization of aluminum nitride (AlN)

First-principles simulations of high-order harmonics generation in thin films of wide bandgap materials [Invited

High-order harmonics generation (HHG) is the only process that enables tabletop-sized sources of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light. The HHG process typically involves light interactions with gases or plasma––material phases that hinder wider adoption of such sources. This motivates the research in HHG from nanostructured solids. Here, we employ the time-dependent density function theory (TDDFT) to investigate material platforms for HHG at the nanoscale using first-principles supercomputer simulations. We reveal that wide bandgap semiconductors, aluminum nitride (AlN) and silicon nitride (Si3N4), are highly promising for XUV light generation when compared to silicon, one of the most common nonlinear nanophotonic materials. In our calculations, we assume excitation with a 100 fs pulse duration, 1×1013W/cm2 peak power, and 800 nm central wavelength. We demonstrate that in AlN material the interplay between the crystal symmetry and the incident light direction and polarization can enable the generation of both even and odd harmonics. Our results should advance the development of high-harmonics generation of XUV light from nanostructured solids.

Piezoelectric Micromachined Microphone with High Acoustic Overload Point and with Electrically Controlled Sensitivity.

Currently, the most advanced micromachined microphones on the market are based on a capacitive coupling principle. Capacitive micro-electromechanical-system-based (MEMS) microphones resemble their millimetric counterparts, both in function and in performance. The most advanced MEMS microphones reached a competitive level compared to commonly used measuring microphones in most of the key performance parameters except the acoustic overload point (AOP). In an effort to find a solution for the measurement of high-level acoustic fields, microphones with the piezoelectric coupling principle have been proposed. These novel microphones exploit the piezoelectric effect of a thin layer of aluminum nitride, which is incorporated in their diaphragm structure. In these microphones fabricated with micromachining technology, no fixed electrode is necessary, in contrast to capacitive microphones. This specificity significantly simplifies both the design and the fabrication and opens the door for the improvement of the acoustic overload point, as well as harsh environmental applications. Several variations of piezoelectric structures together with an idea leading to electrically controlled sensitivity of MEMS piezoelectric microphones are discussed in this paper.

Effect of AlN on the Mechanical and Electrochemical Properties of Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites.

In the present investigation, aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMs) reinforced with aluminum nitride (AlN) nanoparticulates at different volumetric ratios of (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 vol.%) were manufactured via a microwave-assisted powder metallurgy technique. The morphological, physical, mechanical, and electrochemical properties of the produced billets were examined to reflect the impact of the successive addition of AlN into the aluminum (Al) matrix. The morphological analysis revealed the high crystalline patterns of the formation of the Al-AlN composites. The microstructural analysis confirmed the presence of the elemental constituents of Al and AlN particles in the fabricated composites, showing an enhanced degree of agglomeration in conjunction with the additional amount of AlN. Positive behavior exhibited by the micro- and nanohardness was noticeable in the Al-AlN composites, especially at the ultimate concentration of AlN in the Al matrix of a 2 vol.%, where it reached 669.4 ± 28.1 MPa and 659.1 ± 11 MPa compared to the pure Al metal at 441.2 ± 20 MPa and 437.5 ± 11 MPa, respectively. A declining trend in the compressive strength was recorded in the reinforced Al samples. The corrosion resistance of the AlN-reinforced Al metal matrix was estimated at 3.5 wt.% NaCl using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization. The results reveal that the inclusion of 2.0 vol.%AlN led to the lowest corrosion rate.