Giant Piezoelectricity of Deformed Aluminum Nitride Stabilized through Noble Gas Interstitials for Energy Efficient Resonators. (17th June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fiedler, Holger; Fuchs, Florian; Leveneur, Jérôme; Nancarrow, Mitchell; Mitchell, David R. G.; Schuster, Jörg; Kennedy, John
• Is Part Of: Advanced Electronic Materials. Volume 7:Number 8(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-06-17
• Subjects: density functional theory -- III‐nitride material -- ion implantation -- piezoelectric -- Raman spectroscopy -- AlScN -- strain engineering; Materials -- Electric properties -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Magnetic materials -- Periodicals; Electronic apparatus and appliances -- Periodicals; 537
• DOI: 10.1002/aelm.202100358
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2199-160X

Abstract

Abstract: Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a material for a wide range of microwave‐frequency electronics devices, because of its piezoelectric properties and high chemical stability. To improve the performance of AlN‐based devices, such as acoustic wave filters and energy harvesters, an increased piezoelectric modulus is desirable. Here, an increase of the piezoelectric modulus d 33 of this material is achieved by ion implantation of noble gases. For a fluence of 3 × 10 16 at cm −2 Ar +, a 30% increase of d 33 of AlN is obtained. The improvement is attributed to noble gas atoms implanted into interstitial sites of the wurtzite structure, causing a strong deformation of wurtzite AlN. Density functional theory calculations reveal the formation of deformed, metastable AlN with a 350% increase of the longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient. The ion implantation conditions to prepare AlN with a high piezoelectric coefficient are discussed and verified by X‐ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscopy. Heavier elements, larger fluences, and an implantation angle not aligned to the wurtzite crystal are preferred since those conditions generate tetrahedrally coordinated interstitials. In contrast, the opposite conditions lead to octahedrally coordinated interstitials prior to relaxation, which activates the silent B1 high phonon vibration and results in a reduced piezoelectric coefficient. Abstract : The piezoelectric modulus of epitaxial aluminum nitride (AlN) increases by ion beam implantation of noble gases. This effect originates from a finite volume of deformed AlN with giant piezoelectricity, stabilized by incorporated noble gases into wurtzite interstitial sites. Suitable implantation conditions to increase the piezoelectric modulus of AlN for energy efficient resonators are provided.