Effect of annealing temperature on properties of Al–Cu–N thin films deposited by DC magnetron sputtering

Al–Cu–N films have been deposited on steel substrate by DC magnetron sputtering. These samples were annealed at 200, 400, 600 and 800 °C under vacuum condition. The effects of annealing temperature on structure, morphology and optical properties of Al–Cu–N films were investigated. By means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) the phase composition was characterized. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to evaluate and compare the surface roughness before and after annealing. Also UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer was used to investigate the optical properties of the samples. The results show that with increasing in the annealing temperature the intensity of the peaks gradually increased and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the peaks gradually decreased and also increasing in the grain size and the amount of the samples roughness during the annealing process are observed. It demonstrates that desirable reflectance and roughness of Al–Cu–N films deposited by DC reactive magnetron sputtering can be obtained by controlling the annealing temperature.