Trimethylboron as single-source precursor for boron-carbonthin film synthesis by plasma chemical vapor deposition

• Boron-carbon (BxC) thin films are potential neutron converting layers for 10B-based neutron detectors. However, as common material choices for such detectors do not tolerate temperature above 500°C, a low temperature deposition route is required for this application. Here we study trimethylboron B(CH3)3 (TMB) as a single-source precursor for the deposition of BxC thin films by plasma CVD using Ar plasma. The effect of plasma power, TMB/Ar ratio and total pressure on the film composition, morphology and structure are investigated. The highest B/C ratio of 1.9 was achieved at high TMB flow in a low total pressure and high plasma power which rendered an approximate substrate temperature of ~ 300 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that B-C bonds prevail in the films, although C-C and B-O bonds are also present. Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of amorphous carbon phases in the films. The H content in the films is found to be 15±5 at. % by the time of flight elastic recoil detection analysis (Tof-ERDA). The film density as determined from X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements is 2. 16 ± 0.01  g/cm3 and the internal compressive stresses are measured to be less than 400 MPa.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences (hsv//eng)

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