Turbostratic boron carbonitride films produced by bias-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition

Boron carbonitride (BCN) films with various compositions have been prepared by bias-assisted hot filament chemical vapor deposition. The three elements of B, C, and N are chemically bonded with each other and an atomic-level BCN hybrid has been formed in the films. The deposited films are composed of turbostratic structural regions ranging from a few to a few tens of nanometers. Besides, there exist some amorphous domains in the films. Boron atoms have been confirmed to be incorporated into the films with a concentration up to 70 at. %. The interplanar spacing of 3.49 A is found to be independent of the film composition in this range. These films show a blueshift in photoluminescence peak with increasing B content. These findings show that the electronic structure of BCN compounds can be controlled by changing compositions and the BCN compounds are blue-light emitting materials. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)02208-8].