Electron spectroscopy of single-phase (Al,B)N films

Abstract

In the present paper the metastable solid solubility between BN and AlN in the wurtzite structure of AlN has been investigated. Ternary Al–B–N films as well as the binaries AlN and BN have been deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on Si(111) wafers. The composition, binding states of the components, electronic structure, crystallographic structure and texture of the films have been analysed by means of XPS, x-ray-induced Auger electron spectroscopy (XAES), electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Up to a BN content of 33 mol.%, all films were deposited strongly textured in the single-phase sp3-bonded wurtzite structure of AlN. At higher boron nitride contents up to 68 mol.%, the films were still sp3-bonded but the binding states differed from those of the more AlN rich films. Only a pure BN film exhibited sp2 bondings, corresponding to the stable hexagonalBN modification in graphite-like structure. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.