OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ALN THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY DC MAGNETRON AND ION-BEAM SPUTTERING STUDY

Abstract

This paper studies the optical characteristics of aluminum nitride thin films deposited by reactive magnetron and ion-beam sputtering. The dependences of the refractive index and absorption coefficient of the films on the percentage of nitrogen in the working gas mixture have been obtained. It was found that reactive magnetron sputtering allows the formation of AlN layers with a lower absorption coefficient than by reactive ion beam sputtering and with a refractive index close to the value appropriate of the bulk material.