Cadenas Miriam, Sun Michael, Fernández Susana, Valdueza-Felip Sirona, Diez-Pascual Ana M, Naranjo Fernando B
Universidad de Alcalá, Grupo de Ingeniería Fotónica, Unidad Asociada Instituto de Óptica-CSIC, Tecnologías Fotónicas y de Sensores, 28871 Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
Departamento de Energía, CIEMAT, Av. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Micromachines (Basel). 2025 Aug 29;16(9):993. doi: 10.3390/mi16090993.
Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a material of wide interest in the optoelectronics and high-power electronics industry. The deposition of AlN thin films at elevated temperatures is a well-established process, but its implementation on flexible substrates with conductive oxides, such as ITO-glass or ITO-PET, poses challenges due to the thermal degradation of these materials. In this work, the deposition and characterization of AlN thin films by reactive sputtering at a low temperature (RT and 100 °C) on ITO-glass and ITO-PET substrates are presented. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the samples have been analysed as a function of the sputtering power and the deposition temperature. XRD analysis revealed the absence of peaks of crystalline AlN, indicative of the formation of an amorphous phase. EDX measurements performed on the ITO-glass substrate with a radiofrequency power applied to the Al target of 175 W confirmed the presence of Al and N, corroborating the deposition of AlN. SEM analyses showed the formation of homogeneous and compact layers, and transmission optical measurements revealed a bandgap of around 5.82 eV, depending on the deposition conditions. Electrical resistivity measurements indicated an insulating character. Overall, these findings confirm the potential of amorphous AlN for applications in flexible optoelectronic devices.
氮化铝（AlN）是一种在光电子学和高功率电子学行业备受关注的材料。在高温下沉积AlN薄膜是一个成熟的工艺，但在诸如氧化铟锡（ITO）玻璃或ITO-聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（ITO-PET）等带有导电氧化物的柔性衬底上进行沉积时，由于这些材料的热降解而带来了挑战。在这项工作中，展示了在ITO玻璃和ITO-PET衬底上通过低温（室温及100°C）反应溅射沉积和表征AlN薄膜的过程。已将样品的结构、光学和电学性质作为溅射功率和沉积温度的函数进行了分析。X射线衍射（XRD）分析表明不存在结晶AlN的峰，这表明形成了非晶相。在向Al靶施加175W射频功率的情况下，对ITO玻璃衬底进行的能量色散X射线光谱（EDX）测量证实了Al和N的存在，从而证实了AlN的沉积。扫描电子显微镜（SEM）分析显示形成了均匀且致密的层，而透射光学测量表明，根据沉积条件，带隙约为5.82电子伏特。电阻率测量表明其具有绝缘特性。总体而言，这些发现证实了非晶AlN在柔性光电器件应用中的潜力。
