Cubic AlN thin film formation on quartz substrate by pulse laser deposition

Cubic AlN thin films were obtained on quartz substrate by pulse laser deposition in a nitrogen reactive atmosphere. A Nd-YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm was used as the laser source. In order to study the influence of the process parameters on the deposited AlN film, the experiments were performed at various technique parameters of laser energy density from 70 to 260 J/cm(2), substrate temperature from room temperature to 800 degrees C and nitrogen pressure from 0.1 to 50 Pa. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were applied to characterize the structure and surface morphology of the deposited AlN films. It was found that the structure of AlN films deposited in a vacuum is rocksalt under the condition of substrate temperature 600-800 degrees C, nitrogen pressure 10-0.1 Pa and a moderate laser energy density (190 J/cm(2)). The high quality AlN film exhibited good optical property.