Mechanisms in ion induced c-BN growth

Growth Behavior of Cubic Boron Nitride Films in a Two-Step Process: Changing Bias Voltage, Gas Composition, and Substrate Temperature

“…The fact that the etching rate at zero substrate bias is higher than that at negative bias suggests that the ion-bombardment-induced sputtering by heavy ions, such as argon and nitrogen, does not contribute to the etching. This observation can also rule out the proposed growth model of selective sputtering [24,25] in our process.…”

Growth conditions of the cubic phase cBN in boron nitride films

“…It is commonly agreed that a moderate ion bombardment of the growing film is a mandatory condition for cBN-formation. Corresponding models based on a selective sputtering of the hexagonal phase [7] or densification effects of the growing film through subplantation effects [8] appear now to be ruled out by the results discussed in Section 3.1. This is not the case for the thermodynamic models [9,10] which postulate a compressive stress in the order of a few GPa in the near-surface region of the textured hBN base layer to enable a spontaneous phase transition to cBN on the basis of corresponding phase diagrams [11,12].…”

Nanohardness and chemical bonding of boron nitride films

“…high voltage, bias sputtering or ion beam bombardment at the substrate. [20][21][22][23] Mechanisms proposed for cBN stabilization in BN films include both preferential sputtering effects [24] , the presence of large stresses [25][26] and subplantation [27][28] wherein low energy ions are implanted below the surface to increase local density. Post deposition treatments of hBN are also revealing, as 180 keV N 2 + (i.e.…”