Optimization of Aluminum Scandium Nitride Growth for Piezoelectric Applications

Optimization of Aluminum Scandium Nitride Growth for Piezoelectric Applications

Presenter(s)

Ryan P. Laing

Description

The piezoelectric coefficient of aluminum nitride (AlN), a material important for radio frequency communication applications, has been shown to depend strongly on film crystallinity. Aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) is an alloy of AlN and ScN that has been demonstrated to have up to a 5x increase in piezoelectric coefficient compared to pure AlN. The correlation between synthesis conditions, film crystallinity, and the piezoelectric coefficient is still being extensively studied. AlScN films were deposited on thin layers of titanium nitride on sapphire substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering. Films were grown with a variety of sputter powers and substrate temperatures to ascertain the effect of these conditions on film crystallinity and surface morphology. The full-width half-max of x-ray diffraction (XRD) rocking curve scans was used to determine the film crystallinity, while atomic force microscopy revealed the surface morphology. This characterization is preliminary work for a greater study in which the d33 piezoelectric coefficient will be measured with piezoelectric force microscopy, which will be correlated with the XRD rocking curve to find the deposition conditions with the highest piezoelectric performance.

Publication Date

4-22-2020

Project Designation

Independent Research

Primary Advisor

Said Elhamri

Primary Advisor's Department

Physics

Keywords

Stander Symposium project, College of Arts and Sciences

Optimization of Aluminum Scandium Nitride Growth for Piezoelectric Applications

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