Controlled sputtering of AlN (002) and (101) crystal orientations on epitaxial 3C-SiC-on-Si (100) substrate

Aluminum Nitride (AlN) thin films are successfully deposited on epitaxial 3C-SiC-on-Si (100) substrates using DC magnetron sputterer. The sputtered films are characterized on the following parameters: crystal orientations (Siemens D500 X-Ray diffraction tool), deposition rate (Nanospec AFT 180), surface roughness (Park NX20 Atomic Force Microscopy), refractive index (Rudolph AutoEL IV Ellipsometer), in-plane stress (Tencor Flexus 2320 System) and Raman Spectra (Rennishaw InVia Spectrometer). XRD results demonstrate that the orientation of the AlN thin films can be changed from (002) to (101) by increasing the Nitrogen to Argon ratio from 40% to 80% at the total gas flow of 50 sccm. We are also able to tune the in-plane stress via RF biasing on the substrate. Both controlling abilities enable the applications of these thin films for low cost longitudinal piezoelectric devices and a quasi-shear mode devices using (002) and (101) orientations, respectively.