Boron nitride film deposition by reactive sputtering with ECR plasma

Boron nitride (BN) thin films have been synthesized. A pure boron target disk and a substrate are faced each other in an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source. A dc bias is applied to the target to sputter a target material with Ar/N/sub 2/ plasmas. The substrate is rf biased to enhance ion bombardment during deposition. The BN films with the cubic phase as the dominant phase are obtained at the substrate self bias larger than 175 V under the condition of an ion to boron flux ratio of 12. However, these films show exfoliation and surface cracking. An intermediate layer deposited in Ar rich atmosphere makes these problems free on SEM observation.