Thermally oxidized AlN thin films for device insulators

The structural, optical, and electronic properties of an insulating material prepared by the thermal oxidation of AlN thin films on Si have been studied by a number of different experimental techniques. The thermal oxidation at 1100 degrees C of reactively sputtered AlN films on Si wafers was found to result in the formation of an oxide with a relative Al to O concentration near Al2O3 with small amounts of incorporated N. The structure of the AlO:N oxide could be varied between amorphous and polycrystalline, depending on the preparation conditions, and the oxide surface was found to be approximately three time smoother than the as-sputtered ALN films, Metal-oxide-silicon capacitors had an oxide charge density of about 10(11) cm(-2), capacitance-voltage characteristics similar to pure SiO2, and a dielectric constant of 12.4. Infrared measurements yielded a refractive index of 3.9. These results indicate that thermally oxidized AlN films show promise as insulating structures for many integrated circuit applications, particularly for the case of III-V and group III-nitride based semiconductors. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.