Growth of cubic boron nitride films by Triode sputtering and IBAD : Development of intrinsic stress

In the present work, attempts were made for deposition of c-BN films on unheated silicon substrates by Triode sputtering system. The films were characterised by infrared and Raman spectroscopy. High-resolution cross sectional TEM is used to confirm the optical results. Films with c-BN content up to 80% were obtained at temperature of 200°C and in a pure nitrogen discharge. It's well known that the development of intrinsic stress hinders the deposition of thick c-BN films. So, in order to better understand the stress behaviour with the thickness, in depth stress profiles have been performed. The results show that the stress in the h-BN first layer is very important and it decreases when the cubic phase appears, it increases again during the c-BN growth. These results confirm the results of stress profiles obtained after reactive ion etching and tend to valid the stress induced model of Mackenzie.