Abstract
Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) films produced by PVD and plasma-assisted CVD techniques typically exhibit undesired high compressive stresses. One of the effective and feasible methods to reduce stress and hence improve film adhesion has been a controlled addition of a third element into the film during deposition. In the present study, BN films were grown on to silicon substrates using reactive magnetron sputtering with a hexagonal BN target. An auxiliary flow of methane was mixed into argon and nitrogen as the working gas. The deposition was conducted at various methane flow rates at 400°C substrate temperature, 0.2Pa total working pressure, and −250V r.f. substrate bias. The microstructure of the deposited films was then examined in dependence of the methane flow rate. With increasing methane flow rate from 0 to approx. 2.0sccm, the fraction of the cubic BN phase in the deposited films decreased gradually down to approx. 75vol.%, whereas the film stress was reduced much more rapidly and almost linearly in relation to the methane flow rate. At 2.1sccm methane, the stress became approx. 3 times reduced. Owing to the significantly decreased film stress, adherent, micrometer thick, cubic-phase dominant films can be allowed to form on silicon substrate. The microstructure of the films will be illustrated through FTIR and XRR.
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