Study of field emission and dielectric properties of AlN films prepared by DC sputtering technique at different substrate temperatures

Nanocrystalline AlN thin films were prepared via DC sputtering technique at different substrate temperature. The crystal orientation and particle size of aluminum nitride thin films were investigated by XRD analysis. Study indicated that the sample contained pure phase hexagonal AlN nanoparticles with a single peak corresponding to the (100) planes. The peak at 665 cm⁻¹ in the FTIR spectrum of film was assigned to the LO phonon of hexagonal AlN. The particle size of the film, prepared at substrate temperature 200°C was about 9.5 nm, as investigated by atomic force microscope. Field emission study indicated that it can be used as a good field emitter. Turn-on field (E_to) of 15.02 V/μm was observed for the AlN films synthesized at substrate temperature 200°C. Dielectric constant of the AlN film was found nearly independent of frequencies in the measured frequency range 1 KHz to 1 MHz, i.e. in the audio frequency range. The values of dielectric constant (ε) were 10.07, 9.46 and 8.65 for the film prepared at 70°C, 150°C and 200°C, respectively, at frequency 1 KHz.