The properties of AlN prepared by plasma nitriding and plasma source ion implantation techniques

The formation of aluminum nitride (AlN) layer on 1050 aluminum substrate has been successfully performed by a low pressure plasma nitriding process and a plasma source ion implantation process. In the plasma nitriding (PN) process, a relatively thick and uniform stable h.c.p.-AlN layer of ∼20 μm has been obtained from a gas pressure of 400 Pa N2 gas at 480°C. In PSII technique, a metastable f.c.c.-AlN layer has been consistently observed in the implantation dose levels between 7×1017 and 1.8×1018 ions/cm2. In addition an apparent peak separation between metastable f.c.c.-AlN and f.c.c.-Al phase has been observed in the XRD spectrum using a long wavelength (λ=2.29 Å) of Cr Kα X-ray.