Synthesis of aluminum nitride thin films and their potential applications in solid state thermoluminescence dosimeters

- TL emission in sputter deposited AlN thin films when irradiated to gamma rays.
- Linear dose-response up to 10 kGy irradiation dose.
- Negligible fading of TL signals on storage.
- Nominal light induced TL fading.
- AlN thin films found potentially suitable for high dose dosimetry applications.

In this work, aluminum nitride thin films were deposited on Si (1 1 1) substrate by magnetron sputtering. The obtained film was studied for thermoluminescence after irradiating it to various doses of γ-rays. Thermoluminescence measurement showed photon emission at an irradiation dose of 100 Gy or higher. Deconvolution of the experimental glow curve indicated that recombination centers in AlN were present below 2 eV trap depth. Irradiated AlN films showed less than 2% fading of TL signals on storage for 1 month in dark conditions and for the same period, light induced fading was also less than 4%. A linear variation of integrated thermoluminescence counts with absorbed dose has been observed up to an irradiation dose of 10 kGy. The deposited film was also characterized by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. Grazing incidence X-ray diffraction measurement of the obtained film has shown formation of polycrystalline wurtzite AlN having preferred orientation along (1 0 0) plane. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis revealed the presence of oxygen in the film.