Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Influence of substrate metals on the crystal growth of AlN films

  • Published:
International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

AlN films were deposited by reactive radio frequency (RF) sputtering on various bottom electrodes, such as Al, Ti, Mo, Au/Ti, and Pt/Ti. The effects of substrate metals on the orientation of AlN thin films were investigated. The results of X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy show that the orientation of AlN films depends on the kinds of substrate metals evidently. The differences of AlN films deposited on various metal electrodes are attributed to the differences in lattice mismatch and thermal expansion coefficient between the AlN material and substrate metals. The AlN film deposited on the Pt/Ti electrode reveals highly the c-axis orientation with well-textured columnar structure. The positive role of the Pt/Ti electrode in achieving the high-quality AlN films and high-performance film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) may be attributed to the smaller lattice mismatch as well as the similarity of thermal expansion coefficient between the deposited AlN material and the Pt/Ti electrode substrate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. A.S. Paulo, E. Quevy, and J. Black, Mode shape imaging of out-of-plane and in-plane vibrating RF micromechanical resonators by atomic force microscopy, Microelectron. Eng., 84(2007), No.3, p.1354.

    Google Scholar 

  2. F. Martin, M.E. Jan, and P. Muralt, Shear mode coupling and properties dispersion in 8 GHz range AlN thin film bulk acoustic wave (BAW) resonator, Thin Solid Films, 514(2006), No.2, p.341.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. L. Mai, J.Y. Lee, and G. Yoon, Approach to improve ZnO-based FBAR devices, Electron. Lett., 43(2007), No.5, p.735.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. C. Cibert, M. Chartas, and D. Cros, Pulsed laser deposition of aluminum nitride thin films for FBAR applications, Appl. Surf. Sci., 253(2007), No.9, p.8151.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. M. Hara and J. Kuypers, Surface micromachined AlN thin film 2 GHz resonator for CMOS integration, Sens. Actuators A, 117(2005), No.2, p.211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. A. Sato and K. Azumada, Low-temperature metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of luminescent manganese-doped aluminum nitride films, Appl. Phys. Lett., 87(2005), No.2, art. No.021907.

  7. C.L. Huang, W. Tayk, and L. Wu, Fabrication and performance analysis of film bulk acoustic wave resonators, Mater. Lett., 59(2005), No.8, p.1012.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. O.K. Toshihir and A. Morito, Local epitaxial growth of aluminum nitride and molybdenum thin films in fiber texture using aluminum nitride interlayer, Appl. Phys. Lett., 89(2007), No.7, art. No.071919.

  9. B. Wang and M. Wang, The growth of AlN films composed of silkworm-shape grains and the orientation mechanism, Mater. Lett., 53(2002), No.5, p.367.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. S. Inoue, K. Okamato, and T. Nakano, Characteristics of single crystalline AlN films grown on Ru (0001) substrates, J. Cryst. Growth, 297(2006), No.2, p.317.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. A.I. Mardare and C. Mardarec, Bottom electrode crystallization of PZT thin films for ferroelectric capacitors, J. Eur. Ceram. Soc., 215(2005), No.5, p.735.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. R.C. Lin, K.S. Kao, and C.C. Cheng, Deposition and structural properties of RF magnetron-sputtered ZnO thin films on Pt/Ti/SiNx/Si substrate for FBAR device, Thin Solid Films, 516(2008), No.16, p.5262.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. J. Elanche and K.P. Bhuvana, Substrates effect on Zn1−x MnxO thin films grown by RF magnetron sputtering, J. Alloys Compd., 463(2008), No.2, p.84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. R. Jallaraju and G. Henn, Integrated approach to electrode and AlN deposition for bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices, Microelectron. Eng., 70(2003), No.4, p.566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. C.T. Chuang and C.K. Chao, Effects of internal stresses on the mechanical properties of deposition thin films, J. Mater. Process. Technol., 201(2008), No.3, p.770.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. J.P. Kar and S.W. Lee, Effect of sputtered films on morphology of vertical aligned ZnO nanowires, Appl. Surf. Sci., 254(2008), No.10, p.6677.

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. S.H. Choi and J.S. Kim, Study on the c-axis preferred orientation of ZnO film on various metal electrodes, Ultramicroscopy, 108(2008), No.9, p.1288.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Electronic Technology, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Juan Xiong, Hao-shuang Gu, Kuan Hu & Ming-zhe Hu

Authors
  1. Juan Xiong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hao-shuang Gu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kuan Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ming-zhe Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juan Xiong.

Additional information

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.50872031) and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China (No.2008CDA018).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xiong, J., Gu, Hs., Hu, K. et al. Influence of substrate metals on the crystal growth of AlN films. Int J Miner Metall Mater 17, 98–103 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-010-0117-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-010-0117-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation