CHARACTERIZATION OF CUBIC BORON-NITRIDE FILMS GROWN BY MASS SEPARATEDION-BEAM DEPOSITION

We have prepared BN films by ion beam deposition of mass separated low energy B-11(+) and N-14(+) ions with energies between 100 and 500 eV. The silicon substrates were kept at room temperature or heated up to 350 degrees C. The films were characterized with Auger electron spectr oscopy and Rutherford backscattering. The influence of ion energy, ion flux and substrate temperature on the c-BN formation will be discusse d. Successful synthesis of cubic boron nitride (c-BN) with a phase pur ity up to 80% is confirmed by infrared absorption spectroscopy, transm ission electron microscopy (TEM) and transmission electron diffraction (TED). For a film with high c-BN content TEM revealed a growth sequen ce of an amorphous interface layer, followed by few nm of highly orien ted hexagonal BN (h-BN) and a layer of nanocrystalline c-BN, We were a lso able to produce a textured h-BN layer in between two c-BN layers.