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Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures
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Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures

A special issue of Coatings (ISSN 2079-6412). This special issue belongs to the section "Thin Films".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 12099

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ching-Lien Hsiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Nanomaterials Science Unit, Thin Film Physics Division, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden
Interests: materials science; physical vapor deposition; magnetron sputter epitaxy; molecular beam epitaxy; nitride semiconductors; thin films; nanostructures; nanodevices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Arnaud le Febvrier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Energy Materials Unit, Thin Film Physics Division, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden
Interests: materials science; thin film; magnetron sputtering; nitride; oxide; thermoelectricity; hard coating; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; nanostructuration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to submit your work to a Special Issue on “Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures”. Nitride compounds are employed to enhance/strengthen the materials properties of many tools and to fabricate electronic and optoelectronic devices commonly used in our daily life. For instance, transition metal nitrides, e.g., TiN, ZrN, AlTiN, HfN, CrN, TaN, and their alloys, are widely used for hard coatings, corrosion protection, decoration, electrodes, and integrated circuits (ICs). Nitride semiconductors, e.g., AlN, GaN, InN, ScN, Ta3N5, and their alloys are the building blocks of electronics and optoelectronics, such as light-emitting devices, photodetectors, high-electron-mobility transistors, field-effect transistors, sensors, optical elements, and so on.

Magnetron sputter deposition (MSD) is one of the most common techniques used for the coating of thin films and nanostructures in both academia and industry, thanks to its versatility, environmentally friendly deposition process, and suitability for very large area coatings. Enriched target biasing methods, including direct current (dc), radio frequency (rf), pluse dc, and high-power impluse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS), enable the manipulation of the flux, energy, and degree of ionization of reactive species to deposit high-quality thin films and nanostructures even at low growth temperatures, which is highly favorable for industrial production. A versatile design of magnetron and deposition configuration provides high flexibility and the possibility for growing multicomponent alloys and complex nanostructures in a tailor-made fashion. Therefore, MSD has been adopted as the main technique in the nitride community. Despite the progress on MSD nitrides, growing demands for increasing performance of tools and devices dedicated to particular applications are stimulating further study on the accurate control of coating behaviours and improvement of process development.

This scope of this Special Issue is mainly illustrated by, but not limited to, the following concepts:

  • Magnetron-sputtered nitride thin films and nanostructres, including growth, characterizations, theoretical modelling, and calculations
  • Development of novel nanostructures by MSD, for instance, nanorods, nanowires, nanospirals, nanocomposites, hybrid nanostructures, etc.
  • Study of the effect of sputtering parameters on grown materials properties, for instance, structure, crystallinity, crystal orientation, interface, mechanical, electrical, optical properties, etc.
  • Modelling of magnetron sputtering processes for growing nitrides
  • Applications of sputtered nitrides and hybrids, such as hard coatings, corrosion protection, semiconductor devices, etc.
  • Functionalization of nitride thin films and nanostructures for various applications
  • Advances in process development and modeling, such as design and process development for instruments, quality improvement, reliability, modeling, etc.

Dr. Ching-Lien Hsiao
Dr. Arnaud le Febvrier
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Coatings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • magnetron sputtering
  • nitrides
  • semiconductors
  • hard coatings
  • thin films and nanostructures

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6186 KiB  
Article
Effect of the Sputtering Deposition Conditions on the Crystallinity of High-Temperature Annealed AlN Films
by Kenjiro Uesugi, Kanako Shojiki, Shiyu Xiao, Shigeyuki Kuboya and Hideto Miyake
Coatings 2021, 11(8), 956; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11080956 - 10 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3256
Abstract
Face-to-face annealed sputter-deposited aluminum nitride (AlN) templates (FFA Sp-AlN) are a promising material for application in deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs), whose performance is directly related to the crystallinity of the AlN film. However, the influence of the sputtering conditions and annealing on the [...] Read more.
Face-to-face annealed sputter-deposited aluminum nitride (AlN) templates (FFA Sp-AlN) are a promising material for application in deep-ultraviolet light-emitting diodes (DUV-LEDs), whose performance is directly related to the crystallinity of the AlN film. However, the influence of the sputtering conditions and annealing on the crystallinity of AlN films have not yet been comprehensively studied. Accordingly, in this study, we fabricate AlN films on sapphire substrates through sputtering deposition followed by face-to-face high-temperature annealing, and investigate the influence of the sputtering conditions, such as the sputtering gas species and chamber pressure, on the crystallinity of the AlN films before and after annealing. The results revealed that reducing the amount of Ar in the sputtering gas significantly enhances the c-axis oriented growth during the initial stages of sputtering deposition and mitigates the tilt disorder of the layer deposited on the initial layer, resulting in low threading dislocation densities (TDDs) in the annealed AlN films. Decreasing the chamber pressure also effectively improves the crystallinity of the annealed AlN films. Thus, although high-temperature annealing can reduce the TDDs in AlN films, the properties of the as-sputtered AlN films have a significant effect on the crystallinity of FFA Sp-AlN films. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures)
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11 pages, 3332 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Match between High Power Impulse and Bias Voltage: TiN Coating Deposited by High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering
by Chi-Lung Chang, Ching-Yen Lin, Fu-Chi Yang and Jian-Fu Tang
Coatings 2021, 11(7), 822; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11070822 - 07 Jul 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2185
Abstract
Practical experience in the use of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technology has revealed that output bias current depends on the total energy output of the cathodes, which means that bias voltage settings do not necessarily match the actual output. In this [...] Read more.
Practical experience in the use of high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) technology has revealed that output bias current depends on the total energy output of the cathodes, which means that bias voltage settings do not necessarily match the actual output. In this study, we investigated the effects of bias current and voltage on the characteristics of titanium nitride thin films produced using high impulse magnetron sputtering. The bias current and voltage values were adjusted by varying the supplied cathode power and substrate bias under DC and pulsed-DC output models. Our results revealed that pulse delay (PD) and feed forward (FF) settings can be used to control bias current and voltage. Increasing the bias current from 0.56 to 0.84 was shown to alter the preferred orientation from (111) to (220), increase the deposition rate, and lead to a corresponding increase in film thickness. The surface morphology of all titanium nitride samples exhibited tapered planes attributable to the low bias current and voltage (−30 V). The maximum hardness values were as follows: DC mode (23 GPa) and pulsed-DC mode (19 GPa). The lower hardness values of pulsed-DC samples can be attributed to residual stress, preferred orientation, and surface morphology. The surface of the samples was shown to be hydrophobic, with contact angles of >100°. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures)
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11 pages, 3589 KiB  
Article
Phase Transformation and Superstructure Formation in (Ti0.5, Mg0.5)N Thin Films through High-Temperature Annealing
by Mohammad Amin Gharavi, Arnaud le Febvrier, Jun Lu, Grzegorz Greczynski, Björn Alling, Rickard Armiento and Per Eklund
Coatings 2021, 11(1), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11010089 - 14 Jan 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2837
Abstract
(Ti0.5, Mg0.5)N thin films were synthesized by reactive dc magnetron sputtering from elemental targets onto c-cut sapphire substrates. Characterization by θ–2θ X-ray diffraction and pole figure measurements shows a rock-salt cubic structure with (111)-oriented growth and a twin-domain structure. [...] Read more.
(Ti0.5, Mg0.5)N thin films were synthesized by reactive dc magnetron sputtering from elemental targets onto c-cut sapphire substrates. Characterization by θ–2θ X-ray diffraction and pole figure measurements shows a rock-salt cubic structure with (111)-oriented growth and a twin-domain structure. The films exhibit an electrical resistivity of 150 mΩ·cm, as measured by four-point-probe, and a Seebeck coefficient of −25 µV/K. It is shown that high temperature (~800 °C) annealing in a nitrogen atmosphere leads to the formation of a cubic LiTiO2-type superstructure as seen by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. The corresponding phase formation is possibly influenced by oxygen contamination present in the as-deposited films resulting in a cubic superstructure. Density functional theory calculations utilizing the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functionals show that the LiTiO2-type TiMgN2 structure has a 0.07 eV direct bandgap. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures)
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11 pages, 3197 KiB  
Article
High-Selectivity Growth of GaN Nanorod Arrays by Liquid-Target Magnetron Sputter Epitaxy
by Elena Alexandra Serban, Aditya Prabaswara, Justinas Palisaitis, Per Ola Åke Persson, Lars Hultman, Jens Birch and Ching-Lien Hsiao
Coatings 2020, 10(8), 719; https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings10080719 - 23 Jul 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2390
Abstract
Selective-area grown, catalyst-free GaN nanorod (NR) arrays grown on Si substrates have been realized using liquid-target reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE). Focused ion beam lithography (FIBL) was applied to pattern Si substrates with TiNx masks. A liquid Ga target was sputtered in [...] Read more.
Selective-area grown, catalyst-free GaN nanorod (NR) arrays grown on Si substrates have been realized using liquid-target reactive magnetron sputter epitaxy (MSE). Focused ion beam lithography (FIBL) was applied to pattern Si substrates with TiNx masks. A liquid Ga target was sputtered in a mixture gas of Ar and N2, ranging the N2 partial pressure (PN₂) ratio from 100% to 50%. The growth of NRs shows a strong correlation with PN₂ on the selectivity, coalescence, and growth rate of NRs in both radial and axial directions. The growth rate of NRs formed inside the nanoholes increases monotonically with PN₂. The PN₂ ratio between 80% and 90% was found to render both a high growth rate and high selectivity. When the PN₂ ratio was below 80%, multiple NRs were formed in the nanoholes. For a PN₂ ratio higher than 90%, parasitic NRs were grown on the mask. An observed dependence of growth behavior upon the PN₂ ratio is attributed to a change in the effective Ga/N ratio on the substrate surface, as an effect of impinging reactive species, surface diffusivity, and residence time of adatoms. The mechanism of NR growth control was further investigated by studying the effect of nanoholes array pitch and growth temperature. The surface diffusion and the direct impingement of adatoms were found to be the dominant factors affecting the lateral and axial growth rates of NR, respectively, which were well elucidated by the collection area model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetron Sputter Deposition of Nitride Thin Films and Nanostructures)
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