Abstract
The interfacial atomic structure of an AlN thin film on a nonpolar 4H-SiC() substrate grown by atomic Al and N plasma deposition was studied by photoelectron diffraction and spectroscopy. The epitaxial growth of the thin film was confirmed by the comparison of element-specific photoelectron intensity angular distributions (PIADs). Depth profiles were analyzed by angle-resolved constant-final-state-mode X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-XPS). No polar angular dependence was observed in Al 2p spectra, while an additional intermixing component was found in interface-sensitive N 1s spectra. The site-specific N 1s PIADs for the AlN film and an intermixing component were derived from two N 1s PIADs with different binding energies. We attributed the intermixing component to SiN interfacial layer sites. In order to prevent SiN growth at the interface, we deposited Al on the SiC() substrate prior to the AlN growth. A significant reduction in the amount of intermixing components at the AlN/SiC interface was confirmed by AR-XPS.
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