Effect of gas pressure on residual stresses in AlN films deposited on Al substrates

AlN Films were prepared on Al alloy substrates by cathode sputtering. The surface morphology of AIN films was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM), the effect of gas pressure on crystal orientation and residual stress in AIN films was investigated by X-ray diffraction. The AFM images show that many nucleated AIN islands appear to be randomly distributed on the Al surface and are fairly round in shape. The X-ray diffraction(XRD) show that the AIN films have a selective orientation in the normal of the substrate and have good selective orientation deposited at low gas pressure. Compressive residual stress are found in films and increases as gas pressure decreases.