Synthesis and characterization of cubic boron nitride films — investigations of growth and annealing processes

Various attempts have been undertaken to reduce the compressive stress of c-BN thin films. An obvious decrease in stress was realized by post-deposition annealing up to 900 °C, as well as by film deposition with reduced bias after c-BN nucleation. A combined deposition/in-situ annealing (at 700 °C) multi-cycle process promotes improved film adhesion, and when implemented together with reduced ion impact during deposition, leads to additional stress relaxation for c-BN films.