Fabrication of amorphous boron–carbon–nitrogen films by hot-wire CVD

Abstract Amorphous boron–carbon–nitrogen (a-BCN) films have been fabricated by hot-wire chemical vapor deposition using BCl 3 , C 2 H 2 and N 2 or NH 3 . The N concentration of the films fabricated by using a N 2 was below several at.%, and Cl atoms were incorporated to 3–5 at.%. Whereas the N concentration increased and the Cl concentration decreased by using NH 3 gas. In the case of NH 3 gas, the N concentration was nearly equal to the B concentration in most cases. The nearly equal concentrations in N and B resulted from high chemical reactivity between the BCl 3 and NH 3 gases, and the decrease in Cl concentration resulted from the removal as HCl due to NH 3 gas. These results indicate that the combination of BCl 3 and NH 3 is suitable for fabrication of a-BCN films by the CVD method.