Characterization of sputtered Al-B-Si thin fi lms produced with composite targets for device applications

Abstract

Sputtered films were deposited over glass and silicon (Si) substrates by using homemade centrifuged aluminum (Al) targets containing boron (B) AlB 2 and AlB12 particles as their constituents. Additional fi lms were produced with an as-received aluminum target for comparison purposes. The composite targets were mounted in the magnetron sputtering system working at varying discharge powers, ranging from 200 to 450 W, to produce fi lms with the smallest surface roughness. This roughness analysis showed that fi lms deposited from the composite targets (fabricated by centrifugal casting) possessed lower surface roughness than the pure aluminum fi lms if they were deposited over silicon substrates. Also, preliminary studies of fi lm structure and mechanical properties revealed that the fi lms produced with the composite targets had smaller grain size, dominant compression stresses, higher disorder in the crystalline structure, and higher hardness and elastic modulus, when compared with the fi lms produced with the pure aluminum target. © 2012 by Walter de Gruyter.