https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-024-01433-7
Regular Article
Structural evolution of high temperature annealed single-crystalline AlN on SiC substrate
1
Laboratory of Functional Soft Condensed Matter, School of Material and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, 510006, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China
2
Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, 523808, Dongguan, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
3
International School of Microelectronics, Dongguan University of Technology, 523808, Dongguan, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
a
yuanye@sslab.org.cn
b
zhaoyu@gdut.edu.cn
Received:
28
September
2024
Accepted:
25
November
2024
Published online:
12
December
2024
In this paper, a single-crystalline AlN film was prepared on a 4° off-cut 4H-SiC substrate using magnetron sputtering (Sp) combined with high-temperature annealing (HTA). The evolution of crystallinity, surface morphology, and stress as a function of film thickness driven by high-temperature annealing was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Raman spectroscopy (RS). The results indicate that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the rocking curves of the (002) and (105) crystalline planes became narrower, suggesting that the annealing process significantly improves the crystalline quality. Additionally, annealing enhances the original tensile stress in the as-sputtered AlN, as evidenced by both XRD 2Theta-Omega measurements and Raman spectra, where the E2(high) peak of AlN exhibits a redshift. Moreover, the surface morphology is visibly transformed from a column-like structure in the as-sputtered sample to a terrace-bunching-like structure, with roughness increasing as the AlN thickness increases. Our results provide valuable insights into the preparation of single-crystalline AlN templates by tracking the evolution of crystallinity and morphology through high-temperature annealing.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
