Articles
  • Dynamic investigations of (0001) Al2O3 surfaces treated with a nitrogen plasma
  • In-Ho Ima, Jiho Changb, Dongcheol Ohc, Jinsub Parkd,* and Takafumi Yaoe
  • a Department of Electrical Engineering, Shin Ansan University, Ansan 425-792, Korea b Department of Semiconductor Engineering, National Korea Maritime University, Pusan 606-791 Korea c Department of Defense Science and Technology, Hoseo University, Asan 336-795, Korea d Department of Electronic Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, Korea e Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan
Abstract
We investigated the kinetics of AlN and AlNO phase formation on a sapphire substrate at different nitridation temperatures in an ultra-high vacuum. Dynamic reflection high-energy diffraction observations revealed that the growth rate of AlN decreased abruptly as the nitridation temperature increased, due mainly to the low sticking coefficient of nitrogen atoms. In addition, the formation of AlNO was enhanced by the oxidation of AlN at a high substrate temperature, which we discuss in terms of the protrusion density based on atomic force microscopy results. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra support our conclusions and indicate the importance of the metallic Al composition on the sapphire surface during the nitridation process.

Keywords: Sapphire Surface, RHEED, Nitridation, Nitride, XPS.

This Article

  • 2012; 13(6): 783-787

    Published on Dec 31, 2012

Correspondence to

  • E-mail: