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Orientation of AlN Grains Nucleated on Different Diamond Substrates by Magnetron Sputtering
Author(s) -
Liu Hao,
Xu Yaohua,
Zhang Xiao,
Chen Liangxian,
Li Chengming,
Wei Feng,
Yuan Peng
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800447
Subject(s) - diamond , materials science , nucleation , epitaxy , amorphous solid , sputter deposition , crystal (programming language) , sputtering , material properties of diamond , microstructure , substrate (aquarium) , composite material , optoelectronics , crystallography , thin film , nanotechnology , layer (electronics) , chemistry , geology , oceanography , organic chemistry , computer science , programming language
For AlN/diamond structure, the crystal quality of diamond substrates is of great importance for the epitaxial growth of AlN. In this paper, c‐axis‐oriented AlN films are deposited on diamond with different crystal quality by radio frequency (RF) reactive magnetron sputtering. The effects of the microstructure of diamond substrates on the orientation of AlN are studied. The results show that the crystal quality of the diamond films greatly affects the growth behavior of AlN. The surface defects of diamond, such as the amorphous phase, will cause the growth direction of AlN to deviate from the c‐axis, resulting in the disorder of grain orientation. Meanwhile, diamond crystal orientation also has influence on the growth of AlN. The (111) oriented grains of diamond are beneficial to the c‐axis growth of AlN. The interface of AlN nucleation and initial growth plays a vital role in final performance of the films, where there is a transition zone from randomly oriented AlN grains to c‐axis‐oriented grains. The suitable diamond substrate can eliminate the transition zone, and can lead to AlN films with high‐degree c‐axis orientation.