Deposition of Aluminium Nitride Film by Magnetron Sputtering for Diamond-Based Surface Acoustic Wave Applications

Diamond/piezoelectric material thin film layered structures are expected to be applied to high frequency surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices because of the high acoustic wave velocity of diamond. Aluminium nitride (AlN) has been chosen as piezoelectric material because of its both high phase velocity and high resistivity. AlN thin films have been deposited by DC pulsed magnetron sputtering on Si(100) substrates. Texture and structure of the films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, cross-section and in-plane view scanning electronic microscopy observation, and atomic force microscopy. One-micron thick, smooth and (002) oriented AlN films have been successfully deposited on freestanding chemical vapour deposition (CVD) diamond layers. The surface acoustic wave characteristics of AlN/diamond structure were investigated.