Preparation and Characterization of Aluminum Nitride Thin Films with the Potential Application in Electro-Acoustic Devices

In this work, aluminum nitride (AlN) thin films with different thicknesses were deposited on quartz and silicon substrates using single ion beam sputtering technique. The physical and chemical properties of prepared films were investigated by different characterization technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra revealed that all of the deposited films have an amorphous structure. The Al-N bond information of deposited films on silicon substrates was identified by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. FTIR results confirmed the formation of AlN films in prepared samples. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that the surface of films was smooth with low values of roughness. The low values of roughness can be caused the low acoustic loss in AlN films, which is interesting for applications in electro-acoustic devices.