Deposition of AlN thin films on Si substrates using 3C-SiC as buffer layer by reactive magnetron sputtering

Aluminium nitride (AlN) thin films were deposited on a polycrystalline (poly) 3C-SiC layer by a pulsed reactive magnetron sputtering system. The columnar structure of AlN thin films was observed by FE-SEM. The surface roughness of AlN films on the 3C-SiC layer was 9.3 nm. The X-ray diffraction pattern of AlN films on SiC buffer layers was highly oriented at (002). Full width at half maximum of the rocking curve near (002) reflections was 1.3deg. The infrared absorbance spectrum indicated that the residual stress of AlN thin films grown on SiC buffer layers was nearly negligible. The 3C-SiC intermediate layers are promising for the realisation of nitride based electronic and mechanical devices.