Growth of heteroepitaxial aluminium nitride films on aluminium oxide substrates via PEALD method

Research was performed on possibility of growth of heteroepitaxial aluminum nitride films on (0001) sapphire substrates within 210 to 300 degrees Celsius temperature range via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition. Samples created were studied by ellipsometry, x-ray diffraction analysis and rocking curve methods. It was found that synthesized films have refractive index of 2.03 plus-minus 0.03. XRD scans show reflections at 2 theta equal 35.7 degree (0002) and 75.9 degree (0004), characteristic to hexagonal AlN polytype. For the best specimen, full width at half maximum of (0002) rocking curve scan was close to 162 plus-minus 11 arcsec.