Thickness dependence of Young's modulus and residual stress of sputtered aluminum nitride thin films

Aluminum nitride thin films are commonly used as active layer in micro-/nanomachined devices due to their piezoelectric properties. In order to predict the performance of advanced device architectures, careful modelling and simulation using techniques such as finite element analysis are of the utmost importance. An accurate knowledge of the corresponding thin film material properties is therefore required. This work focuses on the mechanical properties residual stress and Young's modulus over a wide thickness range from 100 to 1200 nm. The load-deflection technique is used to measure the bending curve of a circumferentially clamped, circular aluminum nitride diaphragm under a uniformly distributed pressure load. The bending curves are analyzed using an advanced analytical approach rather than commonly used models for load-deflection methods, thus resulting in a higher accuracy. It is found that the Young's modulus is nearly independent of film thickness, whereas the tensile residual stress exhibits a maximum at a thickness of about 600 nm. A thorough discussion of possible error sources is presented and approaches to minimize their impact are discussed. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.