DEPOSITION OF PURE BORON COATINGS BY MAGNETRON SPUTTERING AND INVESTIGATION OF THEIR PROPERTIES

Abstract

Pure boron coatings have been deposited on stainless-steel substrates using a planar magnetron with a thermally insulated target of pure crystalline boron in a direct current discharge of up to 50 mA in an argon atmosphere. The magnetron was designed to be used as a component in an electron-ion-plasma test bench for in situ monitoring of boron deposition growth using synchrotron radiation from the VEPP-3 electron storage ring at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Using this magnetron, we have fabricated boron films with thickness up to 1.5 μm and studied their surface morphology, mechanical properties, and coating composition.