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AES and XPS depth‐profiling of annealed AlN/Ti‐Al/AlN films for high‐temperature applications in SAW metallization
Author(s) -
Oswald S.,
Lattner E.,
Seifert M.,
Menzel S.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.6393
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , materials science , auger electron spectroscopy , sputtering , stoichiometry , thin film , analytical chemistry (journal) , diffraction , surface acoustic wave , thermal stability , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , optics , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , nuclear physics , engineering
For the application of surface acoustic wave sensors at high temperatures, both a high‐temperature stable piezoelectric substrate as well as a suitable metallization are needed. Besides the intensively studied Ru‐Al thin films on different substrates with various diffusion barriers and different Ru/Al stoichiometry, also TiAl thin films were investigated because of their high temperature stability. In this study, Ti/Al multilayers have been prepared in combination with AlN cover and buffer layers as oxidation barriers. To form the high‐temperature stable TiAl phase, thermal treatment was done in vacuum at several temperatures. While phase formation was followed by X‐ray diffraction, we used Auger electron spectroscopy and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy sputter depth‐profiling to investigate film composition and oxidation behavior. However, the analysis was challenging due to peak overlaps and strong charging effects. In this paper, we discuss the approaches to solve these challenges for quantification of the depth profile results and show how besides some limitations both elemental and chemical information can be collected.