Diamond and Related Materials
Volume 8, Issues 2-5, March 1999, Pages 325-330 doi:10.1016/S0925-9635(98)00362-8 | How to Cite or Link Using DOI
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Microstructure of c-BNthinfilms deposited on diamond films
J. Pascallona, V. Stamboulia, , , S. Iliasa, D. Bouchiera, G. Nouetb, F. Silvac, A. Gicquelc
a Institut d’Electronique Fondamentale, Bât 220, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay cedex, France
b LERMAT, ISMRA, Bd du Maréchal Juin, 14050, Caen cedex, France
c LIMHP, Université de Villetaneuse, Av. J.B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France
Received 12 September 1998; Accepted 27 October 1998. Available online 22 April 1999.
Abstract
Diamond films were used as substrates for cubic boron nitride (c-BN) thinfilm deposition. The c-BNfilms were deposited by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) using a mixture of nitrogen and argon ions on diamond films. The diamond films exhibiting different values of surface roughness ranging from 16 to 200 nm (in Rrms) were deposited on Si substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The microstructure of these c-BNfilms has been studied using in situ reflexion electron energy loss spectroscopy analyses at different primary energy values, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and high resolution transmission microscopy. The fraction of cubic phase in the c-BNfilms was depending on the roughness of the diamond surface. It was optimized in the case of the smooth surface presenting no particular geometrical effect for the incoming energetic nitrogen and argon ions during the deposition. The films showed a nanocrystalline cubic structure with columnar grains while the near surface region was sp2 bonded. The films exhibit the commonly observed layered structure of c-BNfilms, that is, a well textured c-BN volume lying on a h-BN basal layer with the (00.2) planes perpendicular to the substrate. The formation mechanism of c-BNfilms by IBAD, still involving a h-BN basal sublayer, does not depend on the substrate nature.
Keywords: c-BNfilms; Diamond substrate; Ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD); Microstructure
