Area-Selective Low-Pressure Thermal Atomic Layer Deposition of Aluminum Nitride
Bernhard Y. van der Wel, Kees van der Zouw, Antonius A. I. Aarnink, Alexey Y. Kovalgin
Abstract
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide This work demonstrates intrinsic area-selective deposition of AlN films by thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD). Using sequential pulses of trimethylaluminum and NH 3 at a substrate temperature of 623 K, polycrystalline AlN was selectively formed on a thin layer of sputtered AlN that was patterned on thermal SiO 2 grown on Si substrates. A pretreatment to remove native AlO x N y facilitated the selective growth of ALD-AlN. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and atomic force microscopy examined the interfaces and layer thickness. As reported in this article, the deposition of AlN exhibits intrinsic selectivity, a trait that can be exploited to grow other III-nitrides selectively, such as GaN.