Growth of AlN thin films on (111) and (100) silicon by pulsed laser deposition in nitrogen plasma ambient

AlN thin films with [0001] texturing have been grown on (111) and (100) Si substrates by a pulsed laser deposition technique from a sintering AlN target. Nitrogen plasma ambient was used for the AlN growth. Linewidths of X-ray diffraction profiles were measured to determine optimum growth conditions and thin films grown at 800 degrees C were found to yield the narrowest value for both Si (111) and Si(100) cases. Cathodoluminescence measurements revealed that the purity of a sintering AlN target is important to the fabrication of high-quality AlN thin films. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.