Field emission characteristics of boron nitride films

Abstract

Boron nitride (BN) films are deposited onto Si substrates by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition. It is found that a variation in the surface roughness occurs with increasing deposition time. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy analysis reveals that negative electron affinity (NEA) appears on the surface of BN films treated with H2 plasma and that NEA is maintained even after O2 plasma treatment. NEA is lost by annealing at 1100 °C. Field emission characteristics of BN films with various surface roughnesses suggest electron emission due to Fowler–Nordheim tunneling from the energy state in the band gap. A turn-on electric field as low as 8 V/μm is obtained for the H2 plasma treated BN film.