Effect of deposition temperature on surface acoustic wave velocity of aluminum nitride films determined by Brillouin spectroscopy

3 pages, 4 figures.-- PACS: 78.35.+c; 68.35.Iv; 78.66.FdBrillouin spectroscopy has been used to study the effect of the deposition temperature on the surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation velocity of aluminum nitride (AlN) films. The results show a dependence of the SAW propagation velocity on the growth temperature of AlN films. The highest value of acoustic velocity was obtained for the film elaborated without heating. Structural characterization of the AlN films synthesized at various deposition temperatures was carried out by x-ray diffraction. These analyses pointed out that the deposition temperature influences the standard deviation of (002) AlN film preferred orientation. The growth temperature clearly influences the acoustical and crystalline properties of AlN thin films.This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministery of Education and Science (Project No. MAT-2003- 01880), the autonomous community of Madrid (Project No. 07N/0077/2002), and by a bilateral cooperation between CNRS and CSIC within the frame of the Picasso program common project Assouar/Jiménez (France) and Acción Integrada 2004FR0008 (Spain).Peer reviewe