Strength and structural properties of AlN films grown on SiC/Si substrates synthesized by atomic substitution

In the present work, we studied the strength and structural characteristics of the layers of the AlN/SiC/Si heterostructure. The surface morphology of the AlN film and the SiC/Si substrate was studied using atomic force microscopy. The thickness of the AlN and SiC layers was determined by analyzing the data of ellipsometry. The hardness of the films and the substrate was measured by the method of nanoscratch testing. It was experimentally shown that the films under study have a high crystalline quality. (paper)