Understanding Reproducibility of Sputter‐Deposited Metastable Ferroelectric Wurtzite Al 0.6 Sc 0.4 N Films Using In Situ Optical Emission Spectrometry

Drury, Daniel; Yazawa, Keisuke; Mis, Allison; Talley, Kevin; Zakutayev, Andriy; Brennecka, Geoff L.

doi:10.1002/pssr.202100043

Title: Understanding Reproducibility of Sputter‐Deposited Metastable Ferroelectric Wurtzite Al _0.6 Sc _0.4 N Films Using In Situ Optical Emission Spectrometry

Journal Article · Thu May 06 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Physica Status Solidi. Rapid Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/pssr.202100043· OSTI ID:1782249

^[1]; Yazawa, Keisuke ^[1]; Mis, Allison ^[1]; Talley, Kevin ^[2]; Zakutayev, Andriy ^[2];

^[1]

Materials Science Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden CO 80401 USA, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Colorado School of Mines Golden CO 80401 USA
Materials Science Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden CO 80401 USA

High‐Sc Al _{1– x} Sc _x N thin films are of tremendous interest because of their attractive piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, but overall film quality and reproducibility are widely reported to suffer as x increases. In this study, structural and electrical properties of metastable Al _0.6 Sc _0.4 N films are connected with plasma changes during film growth, identified via glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GD‐OES), and linked to the target mode changes. This in situ GD‐OES technique uses changes in the N ₂ (I) intensity, correlated with DC bias hysteresis behavior of a Al _0.6 Sc _0.4 target in metallic and poisoned modes, to identify films that subsequently exhibit unacceptable structural and electrical performance. Two representative samples deposited under identical conditions but possessing distinct properties related to phases present in the films are focused on. Films sputtered under a poisoned target mode produce pure wurtzite ferroelectric Al _0.6 Sc _0.4 N with a reversible 80 μC cm ⁻¹ polarization and 3.1 MV cm ⁻¹ coercive field. When identical chamber settings are used but the process starts in metallic mode, a mixed wurtzite/rocksalt film is deposited which exhibits nanometer‐scale changes to the film microstructure and a nonferroelectric response. These results illustrate the utility of optical emission spectroscopy for tracking target mode fluctuations when fabricating metastable materials such as high‐Sc Al _{1– x} Sc _x N films.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1782249

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1782443; OSTI ID: 1856454

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5K00-78987; 2100043

Journal Information:: Physica Status Solidi. Rapid Research Letters, Journal Name: Physica Status Solidi. Rapid Research Letters Vol. 15 Journal Issue: 5; ISSN 1862-6254

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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Title: Understanding Reproducibility of Sputter‐Deposited Metastable Ferroelectric Wurtzite Al 0.6 Sc 0.4 N Films Using In Situ Optical Emission Spectrometry

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Title: Understanding Reproducibility of Sputter‐Deposited Metastable Ferroelectric Wurtzite Al _0.6 Sc _0.4 N Films Using In Situ Optical Emission Spectrometry