Structural characterisations of AlN/diamond structures used for surface acoustic wave device applications

Diamond based surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are extremely versatile devices that are just beginning to realize their commercial potential for use from sensors till high frequency (HF) filters for wireless telecommunications. One of the most promising piezoelectric materials for diamond based HF-SAW devices is aluminium nitride (AlN) thin film. The ability of AlN and diamond to be used for SAW applications depends both on the piezoelectric AlN layer properties and the diamond substrate properties. In this work, optimised piezoelectric (002) oriented AlN layers have been deposited on polycrystalline diamond substrates aiming at HF-SAW filter applications. Polycrystalline diamond layers were deposited on silicon substrates by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (MW-PECVD). SAW filters with unique characteristics have been obtained due to exceptional diamond's mechanical properties [1, 2]. One of the important characteristics of CVD diamond substrate concerns its surface roughness, Smooth diamond surfaces were obtained without polishing by a wet chemical etching of the silicon substrate at the diamond layer nucleation side. Very low surface roughness (R-MS less than or equal to1 nm) can be achieved by this technique for bias enhanced nucleated (BEN) samples. In this paper, we report the structural characterization of the AlN films and diamond substrates by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy methods. (C) 2003 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.