Fabrication of nanopatterned sapphire substrates by annealing of patterned Al thin films by Laser Interference Lithography

Nanopatterned sapphire substrates were fabricated by annealing of patterned Al thin films. Square-patterned Al thin films with the diagonal length of 600 nm, period of 1 um and height of ∼200 nm were obtained by the Laser Interference Lithography and Reactive Ion Etching. Patterned Al thin films were subsequently subjected to dual stage annealing due to the melting temperature of Al thin films (660°C). The first comprised a low temperature oxidation anneal. The hillocks formation on Al thin films was minimized with an oxidation annealing at 450°C for 24 h. The little change in the morphology of patterned Al thin films was observed at 450°C for 24 h. This was followed by a high temperature annealing to induce growth of the underlying sapphire single crystal to consume the oxide layer. The SEM results show the patterns were retained on sapphire substrates after high temperature annealing at less than 1200°C. The XRD and Raman results reveal that the orientation of island patterns by dual stage annealing of patterned Al thin films for 24 h at 450°C, and 1 h at 1000°C, was the same as that of the sapphire (0001) substrates.