Growth and characterization of amorphous boron nitride dielectric films on Si via RF sputtering at room temperature

Good insulating amorphous boron nitride films are grown on Si substrates by radio frequency sputtering method using hexagonal boron nitride target at room temperature. Film thickness by surface profilometer, elemental composition by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, chemical bonding by Raman spectroscopy and morphologies by scanning electron microscopy, have been studied. The grown films are of sp2-bonded BN and verified the assumption that growth rate varies as the growth mode transition occurs. Electrical properties are elaborated via current-voltage characteristics and capacitance-voltage profiling has been studied based on metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure. Breakdown failure was evaluated to be greater than 10 MV/cm while dielectric constant was more than 3 for grown films. This exploration will support to synthesize BN at low temperature and expand its usage in electronics.