Abstract
Boron nitride thin films were deposited by ion-assisted evaporation and characterized by neutron depth profiling (NDP), a nondestructive method for the compositional analysis of solids. The phases present in the films were determined by infrared spectroscopy. Examination of the data presented here and comparison with the work of other authors revealed that stoichiometric or nearly stoichiometric films contained the greatest amount of the cubic phase. This led to the proposition that film stoichiometry is one of the factors that stabilize cubic boron nitride in boron nitride thin films. A shift in the position of the cubic boron nitride infrared absorption was also observed by the present authors which was related to film stoichiometry. Discussion of the various techniques commonly used to determine the stoichiometry of boron nitride thin films emphasized the need for all stoichiometry measurements to be made using the same characterization method in order for all results to be compared with confidence. The advantages of NDP, such as its high accuracy and depth profiling capability, make it a suitable candidate for this application.
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