Enhancement of piezoelectric response of diluted Ta doped AlN

► Highly c-axis oriented Ta:AlN films were deposited on Si(1 0 0) substrate using DC magnetron reactive sputtering at 400 °C. ► A large enhancement of piezoelectric response with piezoelectric coefficient of 8.2 pC/N was obtained. ► The mechanism of the large enhancement in piezoelectric response is supposed to be enhancement of internal nitrogen displacement under electric field.