AMORPHOUS B-C-N SEMICONDUCTOR

Amorphous BC2N powders were prepared by mechanical milling with hexago nal boron nitride and graphite as starting materials. A bulk amorphous BC2N compound was produced by sintering the as-milled amorphous BC2N powders in a vacuum of 10(-5) Torr at a temperature of 1470 K. The con ductivity measurement for the bulk amorphous BC2N compound showed that it behaves as a semiconductor with band gap energy of 0.11 eV for tem peratures ranging from room temperature to 560 K and a semimetal for t emperatures between 560 and 740 K. The mechanism of the formation of t he amorphous BC2N powders is discussed. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.