Microstructure of c-BN thin films deposited on diamond films

Autor: Daniel Bouchier, Gerard Nouet, Alix Gicquel, S. Ilias, F. Silva, V. Stambouli, J. Pascallon
Rok vydání: 1999
Předmět:
Zdroj: Diamond and Related Materials. 8:325-330
ISSN: 0925-9635
DOI: 10.1016/s0925-9635(98)00362-8
Popis: Diamond films were used as substrates for cubic boron nitride (c-BN) thin film deposition. The c-BN films were deposited by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) using a mixture of nitrogen and argon ions on diamond films. The diamond films exhibiting different values of surface roughness ranging from 16 to 200 nm (in R rms ) were deposited on Si substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The microstructure of these c-BN films has been studied using in situ reflexion electron energy loss spectroscopy analyses at different primary energy values, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and high resolution transmission microscopy. The fraction of cubic phase in the c-BN films was depending on the roughness of the diamond surface. It was optimized in the case of the smooth surface presenting no particular geometrical effect for the incoming energetic nitrogen and argon ions during the deposition. The films showed a nanocrystalline cubic structure with columnar grains while the near surface region was sp 2 bonded. The films exhibit the commonly observed layered structure of c-BN films, that is, a well textured c-BN volume lying on a h-BN basal layer with the (00.2) planes perpendicular to the substrate. The formation mechanism of c-BN films by IBAD, still involving a h-BN basal sublayer, does not depend on the substrate nature.
Databáze: OpenAIRE