Structural and Compositional Study of B-C-N Films Produced by Laser Ablation of B4C Targets in N2 Atmosphere

In this work, we report on a structural and compositional characterization of B-C-N thin films deposited by laser reactive ablation of a B4C target, in low-pressure (5 Pa) nitrogen atmosphere. For target ablation, a KrF excimer laser (lambda = 248 nm, tau = 20 ns) has been used, at the fluences of 6 and 12 J/cm(2). Films have been deposited on silicon (100) substrates at room temperature. Scanning electron miroscopy (SEM), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time-of-night secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) characterization techniques were used to analyze the composition and the structure of the deposited films. The film results to be a mixture of sp(2)/sp(3) BN and sp(2)/sp(3) nitrogenated C phases. The concentration of the different BN phases depends on the used laser fluence for the deposition of the film.