Improvement in thermal stability of B-C-N thin films fabricated by magnetron sputtering using graphite and BN co-target

Thermal stability of amorphous boron-carbon-nitride (B-C-N) films fabricated by magnetron sputtering using a graphite and BN co-target was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The boron-rich B-C-N films showed the higher thermal stability. These results suggest that an incorporation of B atoms into the amorphous CN networks improves the thermal stability. This improvement can be explained in terms of the creation of boron-nitrogen bonds and/or boron-carbon bonds.