Temperature dependence of Al(111) nitridation induced by supersonic N molecular beams as observed by synchrotron photoemission spectroscopy

Teraoka, Yuden; Jinno, Muneaki*; Takaoka, Tsuyoshi*; Harries, J.; Okada, Ryuta; Iwai, Yutaro*; Yoshigoe, Akitaka ; Komeda, Tadahiro*

Nitridation of Al(111) surface have been achieved by the action of translational energy of N molecules higher than 1.8 eV at a surface temperature range below 773 K. Surface temperature dependence of the incident-energy-induced nitridation will be showed to discuss the mechanisms of the nitridation. The nitrogen uptake curves obtained showed an incubation time at the reaction temperature below 473 K followed by a linear uptake in the log-log scales, indicating the formation of local precursors and a non-protective layer. Peak deconvolution of N-1s photoemission spectra reveals that the three-coordinated nitrogen (N) dominates among the four chemical state components (N: n=1-4). Especially, the abundance of N decreased with increasing reaction temperature. This result indicates the four-coordinated structure is not stable in the AlN thin film.