Controlled growth of large cubic boron nitride crystals by chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

Cubic boron nitride films were deposited by d.c. bias assisted d.c. plasma jet chemical vapor deposition from a gas system of Ar–N 2–BF 3–H 2. Controlled growth of large cBN crystals was achieved by changing the jet power. Faceted cBN crystals of 300–800 nm were obtained by decreasing the jet power. (111) and (100) planes were observed for these crystals. Sharp Raman peaks characteristic of the cubic boron nitride were observed. The growth of the faceted crystals may be because the decomposition and ionization of the BF 3 and other gases decreased and thus reduced etching effects on the cubic phase of boron nitride at lower power. This result indicates that the chemical effect dominates in the growth of the cubic boron nitride in this work.