Abstract

Thin aluminum nitride (AlN) films have been synthesized by reactive ion–plasma sputtering (RIPS) and their properties have been studied in view of using this method for obtaining protective coatings on output facets of high-power semiconductor laser cavities based on Al_xGa_{1 −x}As/GaAs heterostructures. Investigations by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and ellipsometry techniques showed that, at a residual pressure of ~10^–5 Torr, a layer of aluminum oxynitride is formed and the film–substrate heteroboundary may experience to oxidation. However, AlN films with thicknesses on the order of 100 nm grown in pure nitrogen at a residual pressure of ~10^–7 Torr were evidently free of oxygen and could reliably prevent its penetration to the region of heteroboundary.

中文翻译：

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使用AlN涂层保护AlGaAs / GaAs系统异质结构的表面免受与大气氧相互作用的影响

摘要

氮化铝（AlN）薄膜已经通过反应离子等离子溅射（RIPS）合成，并且考虑到使用这种方法在基于Al _x Ga的大功率半导体激光腔的输出面上获得保护涂层的方法，已经研究了它们的性能。_{1- x} As / GaAs异质结构。通过能量色散X射线光谱法和椭偏仪技术进行的研究表明，在约10 ^–5托的残余压力下，会形成一层氧氮化铝，并且膜-基板的异质边界可能会发生氧化。但是，在约10 ^–7的残余压力下，纯氮中生长的厚度约为100 nm的AlN膜 r显然不含氧气，可以可靠地阻止其渗透到异界区域。