HOT-FILAMENT-ASSISTED ELECTRON-BEAM DEPOSITION OF CRYSTALLINE CUBIC BORON-NITRIDE THIN-FILMS

Polycrystalline cubic boron nitride films have been deposited by hot-filament-assisted electron beam deposition. The films deposited with solid boron and N-2 gas are characterized by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy, which show that the films are composed of crystalline boron nitride along with h-BN. The FTIR absorption spectra of the films showed absorption bands at 1095 cm(-1), indicating the formation of a c-BN phase and also a sharp assymetric absorption band near 1380 and 940 cm(-1), corresponding to h-BN. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the layers are essentially boron nitride but we cannot specifically attribute the different peaks to h-BN or c-BN. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.