Af. Jankowski et Jp. Hayes, CHEMICAL BONDING IN HARD BORON HEXAGONAL BORON-NITRIDE MULTILAYERS, DIAMOND AND RELATED MATERIALS, 7(2-5), 1998, pp. 380-384
The oxides and nitrides of boron show great potential for use as hard,
wear-resistant materials. However, large intrinsic stresses and poor
adhesion often accompany the hard coatings as found for the cubic boro
n nitride phase. These effects may be moderated through the use of a l
ayered structure. Alternate stiff layers of boron (B) and compliant la
yers of hexagonal baron nitride (hBN) are formed by modulating the spu
tter gas composition during deposition from a pure B target. The B/hBN
thin films are characterized with transmission electron microscopy to
evaluate the microstructure, nanoindentation to measure hardness and
X-ray absorption spectroscopy to determine chemical bonding. The effec
ts of layer pair spacing on chemical bonding and hardness are evaluate
d for the B/hBN films. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.