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Preparation of ScAlN films as a function of sputtering atmosphere

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Abstract

Sc doped AlN films were deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering on (100) p-type silicon substrates mixed with Ar–N2 gas atmosphere. It is appropriate for a wide variety of applications for the excellent piezoelectric properties, which closely depends on their crystal structures and morphological properties. In this paper, we research the influence of sputtering atmosphere including nitrogen proportion from 30 to 60 % and pressure from 0.4 to 0.8 Pa on sputtering rate, crystal quality and electric properties. It indicated that the sputtering rate strongly relied on the condition atmosphere, decreasing with increasing of pressure and nitrogen proportion. The best c-axis oriented ScAlN film could be prepared at low pressure of 0.4 Pa and reasonable nitrogen proportion of 35 %, presenting full width at half maximum of 1.7°. Moreover, the results found that the electric properties are demonstrated closely depending on the crystal quality, too.

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Acknowledgments

This article is supported by Project supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Ministry of Education of China.

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Correspondence to JiaLin Tang.

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Tang, J., Niu, D., Yang, Y. et al. Preparation of ScAlN films as a function of sputtering atmosphere. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 27, 4788–4793 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4359-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-016-4359-y

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