Deposition of cubic boron nitride with an inductively coupled plasma

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) films have been deposited by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition (CVD). With this technique films with a c-BN content of nearly 75% can be achieved. Investigations on the influence of the process parameters which are most important for depositing c-BN ( ion flux, ion energy and substrate temperature) have been carried out. The results show good agreement with our theoretical sputter model. Furthermore, from these experiments it is possible to draw the conclusion that the physical vapour deposition and the ion-induced CVD of c-BN films rely on the same deposition mechanisms among which physical sputtering is most important.