2017/09/06 by Guangxu Ju, Ju, Guangxu, Matthew J. Highland +11
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #GaN-based semiconductor devices and materials #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Metal and Thin Film Mechanics #Semiconductor materials and devices
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1709.01968
openalex publication_date 2017/09/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the results of x-ray scattering studies of AlN on c-plane sapphire during reactive radiofrequency magnetron sputtering. The sensitivity of in situ x-ray measurements allowed us to follow the structural evolution of strain and roughness from initial nucleation layers to fullyrelaxed AlN films. A growth rate transient was observed, consistent with the initial formation of non-coalesced islands with significant oxygen incorporation from the substrate. Following island coalescence, a steady state growth rate was seen with a continuous shift of the c and a lattice parameters towards the relaxed bulk values as growth progressed, with films reaching a fully relaxed state at thicknesses of about 30 nm.