Structural Properties and Energy Band Alignment of Crystalline AlN Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition on Epitaxial Graphene

Publication date: 24 Mag 2026

JournalSource: OPENALEXOpenAlex type: articleOpen Access
Authors: Emanuela Schilirò, Salvatore Ethan Panasci, Raffaella Lo Nigro, Fabrizio Roccaforte, Blagoy Blagoev, Vladimir Mehandzhiev, Borislava Georgieva, Ivalina Avramova, Rositsa Yakimova, Milena Beshkova, Filippo Giannazzo

In this work, the atomic layer deposition (ALD) of an ultra-thin AlN film on the surface of monolayer EG grown on-axis 4H-SiC(0001) substrates has been investigated as a function of the number of ALD cycles. The formation of a homogeneous film with a 10 nm thickness and crystalline wurtzite structure was obtained after 320 cycles, as demonstrated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction. Raman mapping revealed a significant reduction in the native compressive strain of as-grown EG (ε ≈ -0.36%) with increasing ALD cycles, down to a value of -0.16% after full coverage. Finally, Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) surface potential mapping allowed the evaluation of energy band alignment of the AlN/EG heterojunction, with a conduction band offset of ~2.6 eV between the crystalline AlN film and the underlying EG. Such a large offset confirms AlN as a promising gate dielectric for EG-based devices.

Origin
Nanomaterials
Volume
16
Issue
11
Pages
659
Cited by
0