COMPARISON OF THE PROPERTIES OF BN FILMS SYNTHESIZED BY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED RF AND MICROWAVE PLASMAS

Thin films of boron nitride are synthesized by two plasma-enhanced che mical vapour deposition techniques: inductively coupled r.f. plasma (1 3.56 MHz) and microwave plasma (2.45 GHz). We study the composition (i mpurity level, B/N ratio), the proportion of c-BN phase in the films a nd other properties of those films as a function of various process pa rameters. Two boron and two nitrogen precursors are compared: trimethy l borazine and diborane, dinitrogen and ammonia, respectively. The adv antages and disadvantages of each combinations are presented. The depo sition process is followed by optical emission spectroscopy. Adhesion is one of the main problems encountered for films containing c-BN.