Controlled Growth of Conductive AlN Thin Films by Plasma-Assisted Reactive Evaporation

In this work, the growth of conductive AlN thin films by plasma-assisted reactive evaporation at different filament-to-substrate distances was presented and discussed. The elemental composition, surface morphology, structural, optical, and electrical properties of the films were examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), optical measurement, and current–voltage (I–V) characterizations. The electrical study revealed that the films are conductive, as ohmic conductivity was observed from I–V results. The GIXRD results of AlN thin films showed that by decreasing the distance, the intensity of the peak corresponding to metallic Al decreases while that of AlN increases. EDX and XPS results indicated that at shorter distances, the incorporation of N into the AlN films is enhanced. This was further confirmed by FTIR results, which showed that the incorporation of Al-N bonds in the grown AlN films was enhanced by decreasing the distance. It was shown that the optical absorption edge of the grown films shifts from the near-ultraviolet (UV) region to far-UV as the distance is decreased.