Sputter deposition of stress-controlled piezoelectric AlN and AlScN films for ultrasonic and energy harvesting applications

This paper reports on the deposition and characterization of piezoelectric AlN and Al X Sc 1-X N layers. Characterization methods include XRD, SEM, active thermo probe, pulse echo, and piezometer measurements. A special focus is on the characterization of AlN regarding the mechanical stress in the f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control ferroelectrics, and frequency control, 2014-08, Vol.61 (8), p.1329-1334
Main Authors: Barth, Stephan, Bartzsch, Hagen, Gloess, Daniel, Frach, Peter, Herzog, Thomas, Walter, Susan, Heuer, Henning
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
Aluminum nitride
Deposition
Energy harvesting
Ferroelectric materials
Film thickness
Grain size
III-V semiconductor materials
Piezoelectricity
Sputtering
Stress
Stresses
Substrates
Temperature measurement
Ultrasonic testing
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Summary:This paper reports on the deposition and characterization of piezoelectric AlN and Al X Sc 1-X N layers. Characterization methods include XRD, SEM, active thermo probe, pulse echo, and piezometer measurements. A special focus is on the characterization of AlN regarding the mechanical stress in the films. The stress in the films changed between -2.2 GPa (compressive) and 0.2 GPa (tensile) and showed a significant dependence on film thickness. The cause of this behavior is presumed to be the different mean grain sizes at different film thicknesses, with bigger mean grain sizes at higher thicknesses. Other influences on film stress such as the sputter pressure or the pulse mode are presented. The deposition of gradient layers using those influences allowed the adjustment of film stress while retaining the piezoelectric properties.
ISSN:0885-3010
1525-8955
DOI:10.1109/TUFFC.2014.3040