XPS study of BN thin films deposited by CVD on SiC plane substrates

Abstract BN films deposited from a BF 3 NH 3 precursor, under chemical vapour infiltration conditions, on plane sintered α‐SiC substrates were analysed by XPS. The films are non‐stoichiometric with an N/B atomic ratio of <1. They also contain significant amounts of oxygen atoms, homogeneously distributed in the film and thought to replace partly the nitrogen atoms in the turbostratic hexagonal network. As a result, ternary BN x O y species are formed locally. Near the BN/SiC interface, the oxygen concentration increases owing to the occurrence of ternary SiN x O y species, thought to be the result of an oxinitriding reaction on the substrate surface with the gas phase containing residual oxygen, at the very beginning of the BN deposition process.