Optical properties of AlN/SiO2 nanocomposite layers

AlN is a III-V compound that has attracted interest because of its applications in optoelectronics, high temperature electronics and anti-wear coatings In recent years, a trend of significant importance has been the synthesis of AlN nanostructured thin films In this study, AlN nanoclusters are formed in amorphous thermal SiO2 on Si substrates, by sequential implantation of Al and N ions As an implantation technique, plasma ion immersion implantation (Pill) is used Infra-red (IR) transmission spectra (500-1200 cm(-1)) of the SiO2 films containing crystalline AlN nanoparticles (NP) on Si substrates are simulated Firstly the dielectric permeability of the nanocomposite is calculated by means of Bruggeman's effective medium theory (EMT) or a homogeneous mixture of spheres (AlN and SiO2). The nanoparticles' filling factor is estimated by elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) Then, the IR transmission spectra of the structure containing two layers (film and substrate) are calculated, taking into account multiple internal light reflections The results are compared with experimental IR optical transmission spectra A very good correspondence between theory and experiment is found when the influence of the nanosize effect on the vibrational properties is assumed.