Characterization of AlN thin film prepared by reactive sputtering

AlN films with a preferred orientation <002> have been prepared on Si(100) substrates via DC reactive magnetron sputtering. X‐ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, ellipsometer, and ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–VIS–NIR) spectrophotometer were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of the AlN thin films. When the sputtering pressure is about 0.4 Pa, the flow ratio between nitrogen and argon is 1 : 3, and the growth temperature is 400 °C, the transmissivity of the AlN film is about 90% in the visible and near‐infrared region, and its optical band gap is ~5.84 eV. The refractive index of the thin films is about 2.05, which is lower than the bulk AlN refractive index. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.