Deposition Rate of Boron Nitride Films Using Plasma Jet Technique

Abstract

A plasma jet apparatus was developed to obtain high-growth-rate deposition of boron nitride films. In this apparatus, the gas mixture of B2H6-NH3-H2 was excited into a plasma state by dc arc discharge. As the resulting deposits, thick films of boron nitride containing cubic phase nanocrystallites were seen on silicon single-crystal wafers. The deposition rate reached 40 µm/min at a substrate temperature of 900 K. This was 2000-4000 times larger than the deposition rates obtained previously using the rf plasma chemical vapor deposition technique. With addition of Ar to gas mixture, the deposition rate decreased to <20 µm/min. The volume fraction of cubic boron nitride in the deposits was dependent upon the substrate temperature under the conditions both with and without Ar.