An investigation of vapor deposited boron rich carbon - a novel graphite-like material - part I: the structure of BCx (C6B) thin films

A black reflective solid containing boron and carbon was produced via chemi cal vapor deposition (CVD) at 700 degrees C. The boron concentration in the se films was determined to be 17 at.%. X-ray diffraction has shown the inte rlayer spacing of this novel compound to be similar to that of graphite (d( 002) = 0.3384 nm). Identification of 001 and hk0 reflections have also been made using electron diffraction. The BCx films have a microstructure consi sting of regions of textured hexagonal platelets with a diameter (L-a) of s imilar to 25 nm. BCx has no ABAB layer plane registration. This material is identified as pseudo-hexagonal due to the lack of hkl reflections. Modelin g of boron rich carbon was undertaken in order to define the nature of defe cts in these solids, This solid structure is more accurately defined by the stoichiometry -C6B. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.