Fabrication of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and AlN thin films by reactive sputtering and its optimization using DOE

Thin films of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and AlN have been fabricated by reactive sputtering using magnetron sputtering equipment. A mixture of Ar and O/sub 2/ has been used for the fabrication of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ films, and a mixture of Ar and N/sub 2/ has been used for the fabrication of AlN films. Optimization of the fabrication process has been carried out using DOE (design of experiments). Experiments of the type 2/sup 3/ have been used for creating mathematical models of sputtering processes. The results calculated from the models have been compared with the results obtained during the fabrication process. It has been found that there is very good coincidence between the results calculated from the mathematical model and measured on fabricated layers.