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.