We investigate the sputter growth of very thin aluminum nitride (AIN) films on iridium electrodes for electroacoustic devices operating in the super high frequency range. Superior crystal quality and low stress films with thicknesses as low as 160 nm are achieved after a radio frequency plasma treatment of the iridium electrode followed by a two-step alternating current reactive magnetron sputtering of an aluminum target, which promotes better conditions for the nucleation of well textured AIN films in the very first stages of growth. Solidly mounted resonators tuned around 8 GHz with effective electromechanical coupling factors of 5.8% and quality factors Q up to 900 are achieved. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.