STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF AlN FILMS WITH OXYGEN CONTENT DEPOSITED BY REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING: XRD AND XPS CHARACTERIZATION

A set of aluminium nitride (AlN) and oxidized AlN (AlNO) thin films were grown with the technique of direct current (dc) reactive magnetron sputtering. The main purpose of this investigation is to explore the influence of the oxygen on the structural properties of AlN and AlNO films. The crystalline properties and chemical identification of phases were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Electrical properties were analyzed from I-V measurements. It was found that films crystallized under the AlN würzite structure and presented a polycrystalline preferential growth along [0001] direction, perpendicular to substrate. Small amounts of secondary aluminium oxide phases were detected too. The oxide phases can induce defects, which can alter crystallinity of films.