Atomic force microscopy study of hexagonal boron nitride film growth on 6H‐SiC (0001)

Abstract

AbstractThe growth of hexagonal Boron Nitride films (h‐BN) on 6H‐SiC (0001) using plasma‐excited borazine has been studied. On 6H‐SiC (0001), the growth of pin‐hole free, compact h‐BN film is difficult due to poor wetting properties between h‐BN and 6H‐SiC. The strained BN layer releases its elastic energy by a morphological instability at the interface. This strain relief mechanism gives rise to a buckling of the film into longitudinal islands and round trenches between 500–700 °C. At 300 and 900 °C however, the strained islands can attain their minimum‐energy size to form homogeneously‐sized spherical islands with diameter of ∼500 nm. Compositional analysis of the BN films grown at 900 °C using XPS shows that these are actually BCxN film with x ∼ 0.15, whereas the films grown at 300 °C have less carbon incorporation but higher O content. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)