Synthesis of aluminium indium nitride (AlInN) thin films by stacked elemental layers method

Nano Optoelectronics Research Laboratory, School of Physics, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

^a e-mail: naveed.phys@gmail.com

Received: 8 April 2014
Revised: 12 May 2014
Accepted: 13 May 2014
Published online: 17 June 2014

Abstract

AlInN thin films were synthesized on Si substrates by using stacked elemental layers (SEL) technique. Three stacking sequence Al/InN, Al/InN/Al/InN and Al/InN/Al/InN/Al/InN were prepared on Si (1 0 0) substrates by reactive RF sputtering of In target in Ar-N₂ and DC sputtering of Al target in Ar atmosphere at room temperature. Annealing of the deposited stacks was carried out at 400 °C for 6 h in a three zone tube furnace. Structural properties of the annealed films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) whereas the surface analysis of the films was carried out using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). XRD results show the formation of wurtzite AlInN thin films which become more obvious with increasing the stacked layers. FESEM analysis reveals drops-like polycrystalline films structure with randomly oriented grains whereas the AFM results show a decrease in the surface roughness with increasing stacking sequence. The formation of more prominent AlInN films with increase of stacking layers is attributed to a uniform interaction among the top and bottom Al and InN multilayers as a result of the annealing.