Ellipsometric investigation of AlN thin films - Effect of temperature and doping with Ti,Cr

Spectroscopic Ellipsometer is employed to study the optical properties (including complex refractive index and bandgap) of pristine and doped AlN (Ti and Cr) films as a function of doping concentration and temperature (273 K–573 K). Pristine AlN, Al1−xTixN (x = 1.5, 3 and 4 at%) and Al1−xCrxN (x = 2, 4 and 6 at%) films are grown on Si(100) substrates using magnetron sputtering technique. The crystal structure and chemical composition of the as grown films are analyzed using Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) techniques, respectively. The optical properties of Ti, Cr doped AlN films at a wider range of energies as well as different ambient temperatures are reported. To determine the complex refractive indices, the measured ellipsometric parameters Is and Ic are fitted using a five layer model with Lorentz oscillator dispersion relation. As far as the bandgap region is concerned, both the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index show significant changes near the bandgap. It is observed that, the real part of refractive index of AlN increases monotonically with the increase in Ti doping and opposite in Cr doping. The extinction coefficient is relatively larger for Cr-doped AlN compared to Ti-doped AlN films. With the increase in doping concentration, the bandgap is found to decrease rapidly for Cr-doped AlN in comparison to Ti-doped AlN films. Additionally, a significant change in the complex refractive index of doped AlN films is observed with temperature.