Growth analysis of aluminum carbonitride (AlC3N) deposited by magnetron sputtering on monocrystalline sapphire substrate

Crystallinity control and its relation to the substrate is a central question in material design as it affects the physical properties of the thin-film. The sample preparation and measurements were performed on a CrossBeam550 and a Titan Themis 200 at the Ångström laboratory, Uppsala university; The diffraction analysis combines traditional selected area diffraction (SAED) with recently developped 4D-STEM capabilities. Using this latter, one can record the local crystalline variations with steps of a few nm, offering discrete information about thin film orientation, texture and stress. The thin film texture clearly increases with deposition thickness.’