Reactive Sputtering of Aluminum Nitride (002) Thin Films for Piezoelectric Applications: A Review

We summarize the recipes and describe the role of sputtering parameters in producing highly c-axis Aluminum Nitride (AlN) films for piezoelectric applications. The information is collated from the analysis of around 80 journal articles that sputtered this film on variety of substrate materials, processes and equipment. This review will be a good starting point to catch up with the state-of-the-arts research on the reactive sputtering of AlN (002) thin film, as well as its evolving list of piezoelectric applications such as energy harvesters.