Epitaxial growth of cubic AlN films on (100) and (111) silicon by pulsed laser ablation

Epitaxial growth of cubic AlN thin films on (100) and (111) silicon substrates by pulsed laser ablation is reported. The epitaxial AlN films can be grown at temperatures above 630 °C in 100–300 mTorr of N2. The epitaxial orientation relationships are (100)AlN//(100)Si and [010]AlN//[010]Si, and (111)AlN//(111)Si and [011̄]AlN//[011̄]Si. The growth of microtwins on (111) planes of AlN was also observed. In the present study, for the AlN thin films grown on (100)Si at around 680 °C in 100 mTorr of N2, the epitaxial growth can cover about 90% of the film region.