Specific Process Knowledge/Thin film deposition/Deposition of Aluminium Nitride

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Deposition of Aluminium Nitride

AlN films can be deposited by sputtering or by atomic layer deposition (ALD).

In the sputter systems AlN can be either deposited by direct sputtering of an AlN target or reactive sputtering with an Al target in mixtures of argon and nitrogen.

Comparison of the methods for deposition of AlN

	Sputter-System (Lesker)	Sputter-System Metal-Nitride(PC3)	ALD2
Generel description	Reactive Sputtering ( 2" Al target)	Pulsed reactive sputtering Reactive HIPIMS (high-power impulse magnetron sputtering)	Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition
Stoichiometry			AlN
Film Thickness	0nm - 200nm		0nm - 50nm
Deposition rate	Not tested		0.0625 nm/cycle on a flat sample 0.0558 nm/cycle on a high aspect ratio structures
Step coverage	Very good		Very good
Process Temperature	Up to 400oC		350oC
Substrate size	chips 1x 100 mm wafer 1x 150 mm wafer		Several small samples 1 50 mm wafers 1 100 mm wafers 1 150 mm wafer
Allowed materials	Silicon Silicon oxide, silicon nitride Quartz/fused silica Photoresist PMMA Mylar SU-8 Any metals		Silicon Silicon oxide, silicon nitride Quartz/fused silica Al, Al2O3 Ti, TiO2 Other metals (use dedicated carrier wafer) III-V materials (use dedicated carrier wafer) Polymers (depending on the melting point/deposition temperature, use carrier wafer)

Further process information can be found here:

• AlN deposition using ALD2
• For AlN deposition using the Lesker please contact the Thinfilm group.