Growth of adhesive cubic phase boron nitride films without argon ion bombardment

Previously, in situ bombardment of massive ions (Ar, Kr, etc.) was considered to be necessary for the formation of c-BN films. Because of the accumulated stress, bombardment of massive ions has led to the formation of c-BN films with poor adhesion. Here we show that c-BN films can be grown without involving bombardment of massive ions. This is achieved by using plasma-assisted pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) in pure N2 RF plasma. Furthermore, we show that c-BN films can be grown in a vacuum ( ̈10 5 mbar during growth) by PLD without auxiliary ion source. We show that these are possible at a reduced deposition rate. Energetic growth species initiated by PLD and the pure N2 plasma is sufficient to form adhesive c-BN films at moderate deposition rate as long as the energy transfer rate per growth species is sufficient. D 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.