Structural and chemical analysis of annealed plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition aluminum nitride films
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University, P.O. Box 13500, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo (Finland)
- Department of Micro- and Nanosciences, Aalto University, P.O. Box 13500, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo (Finland)
- Department of Physics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014 Jyväskylä (Finland)
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Aalto University. P.O. Box 13500, FIN-00076 Aalto, Espoo (Finland)
Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition was utilized to grow aluminum nitride (AlN) films on Si from trimethylaluminum and N{sub 2}:H{sub 2} plasma at 200 °C. Thermal treatments were then applied on the films which caused changes in their chemical composition and nanostructure. These changes were observed to manifest in the refractive indices and densities of the films. The AlN films were identified to contain light element impurities, namely, H, C, and excess N due to nonideal precursor reactions. Oxygen contamination was also identified in the films. Many of the embedded impurities became volatile in the elevated annealing temperatures. Most notably, high amounts of H were observed to desorb from the AlN films. Furthermore, dinitrogen triple bonds were identified with infrared spectroscopy in the films. The triple bonds broke after annealing at 1000 °C for 1 h which likely caused enhanced hydrolysis of the films. The nanostructure of the films was identified to be amorphous in the as-deposited state and to become nanocrystalline after 1 h of annealing at 1000 °C.
- OSTI ID:
- 22592873
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Vol. 34, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2016 American Vacuum Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0734-2101
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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