Aluminum Nitride (AlN) Sputtering Targets
Purity: 99.8% | Size: 3” | Thickness: 0.250”
Sputtering is a well-established technology for depositing thin films from various materials onto diverse substrate shapes and sizes. The process using sputter targets is repeatable and scalable, suitable for both small research projects and larger production batches. Chemical reactions can occur on the target surface, in-flight, or on the substrate depending on process parameters. While sputter deposition involves multiple variables, these parameters provide precise control over film growth and microstructure.
Applications of Sputtering Targets
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Thin Film Deposition: Sputtering targets deposit thin films by eroding material from a “target” onto a “substrate,” such as silicon wafers.
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Semiconductor Etching: Sputter etching is used when high anisotropy is required and selectivity is less critical.
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Material Analysis: Targets can be etched for compositional analysis. For example, in secondary ion spectroscopy (SIMS), the target is sputtered at a constant rate, and mass spectrometry measures the concentration and identity of sputtered atoms, allowing detection of even trace impurities.
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Space Applications: Sputtering contributes to space weathering, altering physical and chemical properties of airless bodies like asteroids and the Moon.
Aluminum nitride (AlN) combines excellent physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. High-quality AlN films are used in optical and optoelectronic devices due to their wide band gap (~6.2 eV), high refractive index (~2.0), and very low absorption coefficient (<10⁻³). Its thermal and chemical stability makes it suitable for harsh environments.
Deposition Methods
AlN films can be grown via pulsed laser deposition, reactive molecular beam epitaxy, vacuum/cathodic arc deposition, DC/RF reactive sputtering, ion beam sputtering, and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Among these, magnetron sputtering is preferred for its simplicity, reproducibility, scalability, and cost efficiency.
Film properties depend on crystal structure, orientation, microstructure, and chemical composition, which are influenced by deposition conditions such as sputtering power, pulse frequency, duty cycle, growth temperature, nitrogen/argon flow ratio, and sputtering gas pressure. AlN sputtering targets perform effectively in reactive DC magnetron sputtering systems.
