Substrate Heating Effect on c-Axis Texture and Piezoelectric Properties of AlN Thin Films Deposited by Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films with highly preferred (002) orientations have been reactively deposited by a pulsed-closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering system using TiN/Ti as the seed/adhesion layer with various substrate temperatures. The texture, orientation and piezoelectric properties of AlN films were characterized by means of x-ray diffraction, rocking curves and laser interferometry. A Michelson laser interferometer was designed and built to obtain the converse piezoelectric response of the deposited AlN thin films. It was found that a slight substrate temperature increase would significantly affect the (002) orientation and the piezoelectric coefficient of AlN thin films compared to the coating obtained with no intentional substrate heating, while higher temperature applications on substrate deteriorated the c-axis texture of the coatings without significant improvement in the piezoelectric response of AlN films.