Stress of c-BN thin films: a parameter investigation
1999; Elsevier BV; Volume: 116-119; Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0257-8972(99)00147-4
ISSN1879-3347
AutoresAdam S. Klett, R. Freudenstein, M.F. Plass, W. Kulisch,
Tópico(s)Metal and Thin Film Mechanics
ResumoBoron nitride thin films were ion-beam-assisted deposited on bare silicon substrates or silicon cantilever structures. The resulting film stress was studied by determination of the resulting bending of the beam using either a profilometer or optical microscopy, respectively. Employing the latter method, the reliability of the stress measurement on the BN-coated cantilever structure could be increased. The theoretically predicted EION-2/3 dependence of the resulting film stress on the ion energy was verified. Generally, the stress of the coatings increased with increasing content of cubic boron nitride (c-BN) in the sample. However, no correlation between the c-BN infrared peak position and the film stress could be observed. In addition, the development of stress — i.e., the distribution of the total film stress — was studied. Therefore, an as-deposited coating containing c-BN was subsequently resputtered and examined after each sputter step. The total stress of the non-cubic base layer increased gradually with increasing thickness. After the onset of c-BN growth, the film stress exhibited only a marginal increase. So far, any reduction of film stress after c-BN nucleation has not been observed.
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