Infrared optical properties of mixed-phase thin films studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry using boron nitride as an example" (1997). We present a microstructure-dependent anisotropic infrared-optical dielectric function model for mixed-phase polycrystalline material from which we derive the transverse and longitudinal-optical modes observable in thin films. Infrared ellipsometry over the wave...

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) nucleation takes place on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) layers growing perpendicular to the substrate surface during thin film synthesis. Studies focused on the nucleation of the cubic phase suggest the possibility that transient phases and/or defects on these h-BN structures have a role in sp3-bonded cubic phase nucleation. In this study, we have investigated the na...

Experimental and theoretical investigations of the infrared-active, polarization-dependent phonon frequencies of cubic boron nitride films have been performed in light of recent claims that large frequency shifts during initial nucleation are the result of strain caused by highly nonequilibrium growth conditions. We show that the formation of small, separate grains of cubic boron nitride during...

The sputtering of hexagonal boron nitride due to low energy xenon ion bombardments occurs in various applications including fabrication of cubic boron nitride and erosion of Hall thruster channel walls. At low ion energies, accurate experimental characterization of sputter yields increases in difficulty due to the low yields involved. A molecular dynamics model is employed to simulate the sputt...

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) films were deposited using radio-frequency ~rf! magnetron sputtering. A type of turbostratic boron nitride (t-BN) growth was found by reducing the substrate bias during deposition. Transmission electron microscopy ~TEM! study showed that the t-BN served as a different nucleation environment for c-BN compared to those reported in the literature by many other groups. Th...