RF sputtering of polycrystalline (100), (002), and (101) oriented AlN on an epitaxial 3C-SiC (100) on Si(100) substrate

In this paper, the RF sputtering of polycrystalline AlN thin film on epitaxial 3C-SiC(100) on Si(100) substrate is presented. The effect of nitrogen concentration, deposition temperature and sputtering pressure are studied. These parameters are optimized to improve the crystal quality and deposition rate. Nitrogen concentration was varied from 40% to 100%, and it was found that the maximum deposition rate was observed at 40%. The RF bias power on substrate was also varied from 100 to 400 W, and it was observed that the deposition rate increases proportionally. The process temperature was varied from 200 to 400 °C to see the effect on the crystal quality and deposition rate; it was found that temperature variation does not yield significant shifts. This paper is able to demonstrate a successful RF sputtering of a polycrystalline AlN (100), (101), and (002) on epitaxial 3C-SiC(100) using RF power supply of 550 W.