COMPUTER-SIMULATION OF BORON-NITRIDE DEPOSITION BY ION-BEAM-ASSISTED EVAPORATION

A new version of the TRIDYN dynamic binary collision computer simulation code, which allows multispecies irradiation, has been employed to describe the formation of boron nitride films by ion-beam-assisted deposition at nitrogen energies of 125-1000 eV atoms-1 and nitrogen-to-boron flux ratios of up to 2. The results are in excellent agreement with experimental findings at low ion-to-atom flux ratios which render a substoichiometric or nearly stoichiometric nitrogen concentration. In this range the film composition results from purely collisional effects of implantation, sputtering and mixing. At higher nitrogen concentration, additional processes of ion-induced release become effective. These can be introduced into the simulation in order to obtain satisfactory fits also for the highest flux ratios.