Room-Temperature Formation of Hard BC<sub>x</sub> Films by Low Power Magnetron Sputtering
Boron carbide is one of the most important non-metallic materials. Amorphous BC<sub>x</sub> films were synthesized at room temperature by single- and dual-target magnetron sputtering processes. A B<sub>4</sub>C target and C target were operated using an RF signal and a DC sig...
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| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
MDPI AG
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/1295ccf208ae4fe2b3732ca434279388 |
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| Sumario: | Boron carbide is one of the most important non-metallic materials. Amorphous BC<sub>x</sub> films were synthesized at room temperature by single- and dual-target magnetron sputtering processes. A B<sub>4</sub>C target and C target were operated using an RF signal and a DC signal, respectively. The effect of using single- and dual-target deposition and process parameters on the chemical bonding and composition of the films as well as their functional properties were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray energy dispersive analysis, X-ray diffraction, ellipsometry, and spectrophotometry. It was found that the film properties depend on the sputtering power and the used targets. EDX data show that the composition of the samples varied from B<sub>2</sub>C to practically BC<sub>2</sub> in the case of using an additional C target. According to the XPS data, it corresponds to the different chemical states of the boron atom. A nanoindentation study showed that the film with a composition close to B<sub>2</sub>C deposited with the highest B<sub>4</sub>C target power reached a hardness of 25 GPa and Young’s modulus of 230 GPa. The optical properties of the films also depend on the composition, so the band gap (E<sub>g</sub>) of the BC<sub>x</sub> film varied in the range of 2.1–2.8 eV, while the E<sub>g</sub> of the carbon-rich films decreased to 1.1 eV. |
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