Ion-assisted pulsed laser deposition of aluminum nitride thin films

Aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films were deposited by nitrogen-ion-assisted pulsed laser ablation of an AlN target. A KrF excimer laser with a pulse duration of 23 ns and a wavelength of 248 nm was used as a light source for the ablation. A nitrogen ion beam with energies in a range of 200-800 eV is used to assist the deposition. The nitrogen ion implantation can compensate the possible loss of nitrogen species in the ablated plasma and can effectively assist the deposition by providing energetic nitrogen ions. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements were used to characterize the deposited thin films. The influences of the substrate temperature and the ion energy on the electronic and structural properties of the deposited thin films were studied. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)03203-5].