Transverse piezoelectric constant of aluminium nitride films deposited on aluminium substrate by reactive magnetron sputtering

In view of high temperature applications, c-axis oriented aluminium nitride films on aluminium substrate were produced by magnetron sputtering at low pressure (0.3 and 0.5 Pa) and different values of nitrogen concentration. XRD data show the highest intensity of (002) diffraction peak with nitrogen concentration of 0.4, and the peak value decreases when the nitrogen concentration moves away from 0.4. The transverse piezoelectric constant (absolute value) was determined for all conditions, the highest values observed with nitrogen concentration of 0.4 (in agreement with XRD data) and 0.8, with a slight preference for 0.4. These new experimental data and the presence of the two peaks of similar amplitude on the estimated transverse piezoelectric constant are useful information for the identification of good practical operative conditions for AlN films sputtered on aluminium, basic structure for the development of high temperature piezoelectric transducers.