Effect of plasma oxidized Al prelayer for the epitaxial growth of Al,O, films on Si using magnetron sputtering

The Al,O, film was epitaxially grown on Si substrate by magnetron sputtering using a plasma oxidized Al prelayer. The prelayer was used for the prevention of Si surface oxidation in the initial growth stage. Higher growth rate at lower temperature by the excitation of Al and 0 sources was realized compared with other growth methods such as chemical vapour deposition and metalorganic molecular beam epitaxy. It was.investigated that the prelayer was effective to grow Al,O, epitaxially by a sputtering method and to improve the Al,O, crystalline quality, the surface morphology and the abruptness of Al,O,/Si interface