Wafer scale reactive sputtering of highly oriented and ferroelectric Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N from 300 mm AlSc Targets

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Kreutzer, Tom-Niklas, Ghori, Muhammad Zubair, Islam, Md Redwanul, Lofink, Fabian, Stoppel, Fabian, Müller-Groeling, Axel, Fichtner, Simon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Kreutzer, Tom-Niklas
Ghori, Muhammad Zubair
Islam, Md Redwanul
Lofink, Fabian
Stoppel, Fabian
Müller-Groeling, Axel
Fichtner, Simon
author_facet Kreutzer, Tom-Niklas
Ghori, Muhammad Zubair
Islam, Md Redwanul
Lofink, Fabian
Stoppel, Fabian
Müller-Groeling, Axel
Fichtner, Simon
contents This paper presents progress towards the large-scale manufacturability of piezo- and ferroelectric Al$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$N thin films with very high Sc content. Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N layers were deposited by reactive sputtering from a 300 mm diameter Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N target on standard 200 mm Si wafers with Pt bottom- and Mo top-electrodes. The deposited films were analyzed in depth with X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Reciprocal Space Mapping (RSM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) showing well oriented c-axis growth over the full wafer with slight variation in the film thickness and Sc content over the wafer radius. An overall low density of abnormally oriented grains (AOG) was found. Further wafer mapping for piezoelectric and dielectric properties showed a piezoelectric performance increase by 40 % in comparison to Al$_{0.7}$Sc$_{0.3}$N while only moderately increasing the permittivity and loss factor. Switching measurements revealed ferroelectric behavior of the film on all measured positions with an average remanent polarization of 88.36 uC/cm$^2$ and an average coercive field of 244 V/um. This successful demonstration opens new opportunities for MEMS applications with demands for high forces like microspeakers or quasi static micromirrors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_17170
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Wafer scale reactive sputtering of highly oriented and ferroelectric Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N from 300 mm AlSc Targets
Kreutzer, Tom-Niklas
Ghori, Muhammad Zubair
Islam, Md Redwanul
Lofink, Fabian
Stoppel, Fabian
Müller-Groeling, Axel
Fichtner, Simon
Materials Science
Applied Physics
This paper presents progress towards the large-scale manufacturability of piezo- and ferroelectric Al$_{1-x}$Sc$_x$N thin films with very high Sc content. Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N layers were deposited by reactive sputtering from a 300 mm diameter Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N target on standard 200 mm Si wafers with Pt bottom- and Mo top-electrodes. The deposited films were analyzed in depth with X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Reciprocal Space Mapping (RSM), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) showing well oriented c-axis growth over the full wafer with slight variation in the film thickness and Sc content over the wafer radius. An overall low density of abnormally oriented grains (AOG) was found. Further wafer mapping for piezoelectric and dielectric properties showed a piezoelectric performance increase by 40 % in comparison to Al$_{0.7}$Sc$_{0.3}$N while only moderately increasing the permittivity and loss factor. Switching measurements revealed ferroelectric behavior of the film on all measured positions with an average remanent polarization of 88.36 uC/cm$^2$ and an average coercive field of 244 V/um. This successful demonstration opens new opportunities for MEMS applications with demands for high forces like microspeakers or quasi static micromirrors.
title Wafer scale reactive sputtering of highly oriented and ferroelectric Al$_{0.6}$Sc$_{0.4}$N from 300 mm AlSc Targets
topic Materials Science
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.17170