Abstract

In this paper, the buffer interlayer was formed by first depositing a pure nickel layer on the p-type Si (100) substrate, and then the boron nitride thin films were deposited by using radio frequency magnetron sputter. We used the purity of 99.99 % nickel and purity of 99.99 % boron nitride (h-BN) as targets in the experiment. Step profiler has been employed to measure the thickness of nickel interlayer and cubic boron nitride thin films. Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) has been employed to characterize boron nitride thin films. The content of cubic phase boron nitride in the films has been calculated through the FTIR spectra. The surface morphology and the grain size of films were examined using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The mixture gas of argon and nitrogen was as the working gas in our experiment. To study the thickness of nickel interlayer how to influence the formation of cubic phase in the boron nitride thin film, we changed the thickness of nickel interlayer by controlling the sputtering time with the same substrate temperature, working gas pressure and other conditions. The results showed that the thickness of nickel interlayer is the key factor in the formation of cubic boron nitride. The growth of cubic boron nitride at room temperature can be realized by appropriately selecting the thickness of nickel interlayer. We also drew out when the thickness of nickel interlayer was about 150nm, the content of cubic phase in boron nitride thin films would get up to the highest. On this basis of these results, we also examined impacts of the substrate temperature (100~400 °C), substrate bias (50~210 V) and annealing conditions on the formation of the cubic boron nitride thin films.

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