Growth of BON thin films by plasma assisted MOCVD and study of deposition parameter effects on the film structure

BON thin film was firstly grown by use of low frequency (100 kHz) RF plasma assisted MOCVD with borate precursor. The effects of deposition parameters such as substrate temperature and reactive gases, etc., on the BON film structure were also studied with XPS, FT-IR, UV, TED and AFM. It was found that the composition in the film was influenced by both substrate temperature and reactive gas. The films grown at 500 °C under N₂ plasma contained more N-content and less carbon with smooth surface. The film grown under this deposition condition possessed semiconductor property determined by PL and I-V data. For the formation of BON film, the gas phase reaction is more important rather than surface reaction. The experimental results showed that the excited N₂ could effectively react with boron-containing radicals and remove carbon on the surface rather than NH₃. The N content in the film would influence the IR feature peak of the BON as well as electrical conductivity.