Investigation of laser-induced plasma deposition of boron nitride

Laser ionization mass spectrometry (LIMS) was applied to the investigation of the composition of laser plasmas of three different boron nitride modifications (hexagonal -boron nitride with graphite structure, cubic -boron nitride with diamond structure and hexagonal -boron nitride resembling the wurtzite type). Thin films in the 10 nm range were produced in the ion source of the laser mass spectrograph by laser-induced plasma deposition. So we could carry out the plasma diagnostic and the preparation of thin films under the same condition. The cluster distribution in laser plasma is independent of the structure of the BN target. An explanation of laser-induced plasma deposition of boron nitride from the results of mass spectrometric analysis of laser plasmas and of the analysis of deposited thin films (TEM, EELS) was derived.