On the stoichiometry condition for the formation of cubic boron nitride films

The stoichiometry of boron nitride (BN) films, which are deposited with self-bias-assisted radio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering of a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) target, has been investigated with Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and the MCs⁺-mode of secondary ion mass spectroscopy (MCs⁺-SIMS) for the sake of a better understanding of the growth mechanism of cubic boron nitride (cBN). The cubic fraction of the films is determined with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). It is shown that full stoichiometry of the deposited films is decisive for cBN-growth. A substrate bias voltage can increase the N concentration of a growing film under N-deficient deposition conditions. This effect is shown to be temperature dependent. PACS 52.77.Dq; 81.15.Cd; 68.55.Nq     

Modeling of electronic density of states for single-wall carbon and boron nitride nanotubes

The electronic density of states is calculated for all possible geometric configurations of single-wall carbon and boron nitride nanotubes. The calculation is based on the numerical differentiation of the two-dimensional dispersion relations for graphite and hexagonal boron nitride. The differentiation is performed for all allowed values of the wave vector using the π-electron approximation. For the particular carbon nanotubes chosen as examples, a good agreement is demonstrated between the calculated values of energy spacing of the symmetric van Hove singularities in the density of states and the experimental data obtained from the resonance Raman scattering study.     

Heteroepitaxial growth of cubic boron nitride films on single-crystalline (001) diamond substrates

Heteroepitaxial cubic boron nitride (c-BN) films of significantly improved crystalline quality have successfully been deposited on (001) diamond single crystals using an ion beam assisted preparation method. The results of various characterization techniques prove that films containing 100% pure c-BN phase were nucleated directly on top of diamond without any intermediate hexagonal BN layer. Epitaxially grown, 500-nm-thick c-BN films are mechanically stable even under ambient conditions, though they still exhibit a compressive stress of 5 GPa. Their rocking angles of 0.2°, as observed by X-ray diffraction, point to a hitherto unprecedented quality of the films. Their surface smoothness, the magnitude of their Youngs modulus as well as their ultrahardness corroborate the outstanding quality of these epitaxially grown c-BN films on single-crystalline diamond. PACS 68.55.Jk; 81.15.Jj; 62.20.Qp; 81.05.Je     

New data on RC radiation centers obtained from a photoluminescence study of cubic boron nitride irradiated with electrons of near-threshold energies

New data on radiation centers of the RC series are obtained by studying the photoluminescence of boron nitride cubic crystals irradiated with electrons of energies of 150 to 300 eV and annealed in vacuum at temperatures of 400 to 800°C. Changes in the fine structure of no-phonon lines from these centers were observed as the electron energy reached the “threshold” value or after annealing. These changes are likely to be associated with the response of a vacancy (which is a structural element of RC defects) to differently directed uniaxial stresses. The fine structure of the no-phonon line from the RC3 center is less sensitive to threshold effects and relaxes more easily during annealing in comparison with those from the RC1 and RC2 centers. New data are obtained on the fine structure of phonon replicas of no-phonon lines from RC centers; this structure is due to interaction of the corresponding electron transitions with lattice phonons of energies of 0.1 to 0.125 eV.     

Studies of the second-order nonlinear optical properties of cubic boron nitride

Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a kind of artificial wide-energy-gap semiconductor crystal, which has zinc blende structure with Td symmetry. The second-order nonlinear optical properties of cBN single crystal were investigated for the first time. Using a Q-switching Nd:YAG laser, the optical rectification and the second-harmonic generation at 532 nm from cBN single crystal were observed. In order to determine the nonlinear optical coefficient of a minute-size cBN sample, a simple method based on modified transverse linear electro-optic modulation was also introduced. This approach is convenient because it is unnecessary to know the absolute intensity of a probing beam for measuring the half-wave voltage of a cBN sample. Finally, cBN’s linear electro-optic coefficient γ₄₁=1.07×10^-14 m/V and nonlinear optical coefficient d₁₄(0,ω,-ω)=1.07×10^-13 m/V were obtained. PACS 42.65.An; 42.65.Ky; 78.20.Jq     

Measurement of the linear electro-optic tensor of cubic boron nitride single crystals

The transverse electro-optic(EO)modulation system is built based on cubic boron nitride(cBN)single crystals unintentionally doped and synthesized at a high pressure and high temperature.The photoelectric output of the system includes two parts that can be measured respectively and the value of elements in the linear EO tensor of the cBN crystal can be obtained.This method does not need to measure the absolute light intensity.All of the surfaces of the tiny cBN crystals whose hardness is next to the hardest diamonds are{111}planes.The rectangular parallelepiped cBN samples are obtained by cleaving along{110}planes and subsequently grinding and polishing{112}planes of the tiny octahedral cBN flakes.Three identical non-zero elements of the EO tensor of the cBN crystal are measured via two sample configurations,and the measured results are very close,about 3.68 and 3.95 pm/V,respectively,which are larger than the linear EO coefficients of the general III-V compounds.     

Thermodynamic properties of cubic boron nitride under high pressure from ab initio calculations

The equations of state (EOS) and other thermodynamic properties of cubic boron nitride (C-BN) have been studied by the first-principles method under high pressure. Under ambient conditions, our results are consistent with the available experimental data and those calculated by others. At the same time, the dependences of Young’s modulus and the shear modulus of C-BN on pressure P are successfully obtained. Moreover, the variation of the Poisson ratio, Debye temperature, specific heat, and thermal expansion coefficient with pressure P up to 200 GPa at 300 K have been investigated for the first time by means of a quasi-harmonic Debye model, in which phononic effects are considered.     

Peculiarities of spontaneous crystallization of cubic boron nitride single crystal powders in the Li-B-N (H,Be) system

Abstract

We have investigated the effect of beryllium additions on the kinetics of conversion of hexagonal graphite-like BN to cubic BN (hBN → cBN) as well as on the linear rate of cBN crystal growth in a Li-B-N (H, Be) system. Experiments were performed in the temperature range 1940-2080K at a pressure of 4.3GPa. With the addition of 0.25 and 0.50wt.% beryllium the activation energy of the cBN formation process is found to be 45.8 and 42.0kJ/mol, respectively. The resulting crystals showed p-type conductivity. The activation energy of the impurity carriers for the samples with 0.25 and 0.50 wt.% beryllium additions equalled 0.22 and 0.17eV, respectively.     

Determination of the phonon density of states from the thermodynamic functions of the crystal (white tin,antimony, tellurium)

The linear incorrect problem of determining the density of states from the phonon specific heat is solved by A. N. Tikhonov's regularization method for white tin, antimony, and tellurium crystals.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshkikh Uchebnyki Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 4, pp. 16–20, April, 1984.     

Young’s modulus and density of nanocrystalline cubic boron nitride films determined by dispersion of surface acoustic waves

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) films of 200–420 nm thickness and high phase purity were deposited on silicon (100) substrates by ion-assisted pulsed laser deposition (IA PLD)from a boron nitride target using a KrF-excimer laser, and by plasma-enhanced physical vapor deposition (PE PVD)with a hollow-cathode arc evaporation device. In order to improve the c-BNfilm adhesion, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) films with 25–50 nm thickness were used as buffer layers. The density and Young’s modulus of the c-BNfilms were obtained by investigating the dispersion of surface acoustic waves. In data analysis a two-layer model was applied in order to take the influence of the h-BNlayer into consideration. The values for the density vary from 2.95±0.25 g/cm³to 3.35±0.3 g/cm³, and those for the Young’s modulus from 420±40 GPa to 505±30 GPa. The results are compared with literature values reported for nanocrystalline films, polycrystalline disks and single crystal c-BN. Received: 26 March 2001 / Accepted: 29 March 2001 / Published online: 25 July 2001     

DOS: Evaluation of phonon density of states from nuclear resonant inelastic absorption

Theoretical background and specific features of the calculation of the phonon density of states from energy spectra of nuclear resonant inelastic absorption of synchrotron radiation are presented. Double Fourier transformation is used to deconvolute data and an instrumental function and to eliminate the multiphonon contributions. A computer program is developed and an example of its work is shown.     

Large harmonic softening of the phonon density of states of uranium

Phonon density-of-states curves were obtained from inelastic neutron scattering spectra from the three crystalline phases of uranium at temperatures from 50 to 1213 K. The alpha-phase showed an unusually large thermal softening of phonon frequencies. Analysis of the vibrational power spectrum showed that this phonon softening originates with the softening of a harmonic solid, as opposed to vibrations in anharmonic potentials. It follows that thermal excitations of electronic states are more significant thermodynamically than are the classical volume effects. For the alpha-beta and beta-gamma phase transitions, vibrational and electronic entropies were comparable.     

Correlation between stress profiles of cubic boron nitride thin films and the phase sequence revealed from infrared data

Cubic boron nitride thin films have been ion-beam-assisted deposited on silicon cantilever structures and subsequently back-etched in order to study the stress evolution and finally the growth mechanisms. After each sputtering step, the film stress, the remaining thickness, and the IR data were examined. In this way, the layered sequence of cBN on top of a hBN base layer, influencing the development of the intrinsic film stress, could be studied in detail. The observed stress distribution can be divided into three regions. First, a non-cubic base layer with a constant stress value is formed, followed by a linear increase in the stress after cBN nucleation as a result of the coalescence of cBN nanocrystals. Finally, the stress reaches a second plateau characteristic of the cBN top layer. In addition, the layered sequence was verified by the evolution of the FTIR spectra. Furthermore, the fraction of the sp²-bonded material of the cBN top layer was determined from the IR data. For various deposition conditions, a linear relationship between the stress of the nanocrystalline cBN top layer and the amount of sp³-bonded material was observed. From this, it can be concluded that stress relaxation occurs at the sp²-bonded grain boundary material. No evidence for stress relaxation after cBN nucleation was found. Received: 27 August 1999 / Accepted: 31 August 1999 / Published online: 3 November 1999