Plasma assisted deposition of nanocrystalline BCN thin films and property characterization

Electron-cyclotron-wave-resonance plasma assisted deposition is an effective technique for preparing superhard materials. In this work, nanocrystalline BCN thin films were grown on. Si(001) wafers and Corning glass substrates, where the growing; surface was bombarded with nitrogen plasma at energies between 60 and 180 eV Energy-dispersive x-ray analysis revealed the formation of very clean, homogeneous films with a bulk composition around B42C33N25, which changes only slightly with ion energy. Under an atomic force microscope the films displayed a morphology composed of crystallites of about 200 nm in lateral size in cubic habits. Both the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared absorption indicated that the deposits are ternary BCN compounds. The films are highly transparent and hard; the Vicker's hardness scatters in the range of 26-28 GPa. Strong photoluminescence peaked at 430 nm was detected on the as-deposited specimens at room temperature: The band gap for the deposits was estimated to be circa 3.0 eV (C) 2002 American Vacuum Society.