Filament activated chemical vapor deposition of boron carbide coatings

Abstract

In this study, we have demonstrated that boron carbide, an extremely hard and wear-resistant material, can be deposited with hot filament-activated chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD). There are several benefits to using a hot filament system, including a high deposition rate and a relatively low substrate temperature with a process that is not line-of-sight. High purity, apparently amorphous boron carbide films were obtained by the use of a chlorine based precursor (which is less toxic than diborane). This indicates that either the hot filament helps in complete decomposition of BCl3 or the presence of high concentration of atomic hydrogen in a HFCVD environment helps in scavenging the chlorine.