CHARACTERIZATION OF BORON-NITRIDE FILMS PREPARED BY THE DUAL ION-BEAM DEPOSITION TECHNIQUE

Boron nitride films have been synthesized using the dual ion beam deposition technique. A bombarding beam of 5-100 keV N2+ ions and a sputtering beam of 0.05-1.5 keV Ar+ ions were employed. The boron atoms sputtered from the boron target by the Ar+ ion beam were deposited onto the substrate of thermally oxidized silicon wafers which were bombarded by the N2+ ion beam simultaneously during deposition. Infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and microhardness tests were used to study the properties of the resulting films. The IR spectra showed a clear and strong peak due to the cubic boron nitride phase together with two peaks of the hexagonal phase. The microhardness of the films is in excess of 4300 HV. © 1990.