Growth and characterization of stoichiometric BCN films on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite by radiofrequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Hexagonal boron carbonitride (h-BCN) hybrid films have been synthesized on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite by radiofrequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using tris-(dimethylamino)borane as a single-source molecular precursor. The films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and Raman spectroscopic measurements. XPS measurement showed that the B atoms were bonded to C and N atoms to form the sp2-B-C-N atomic hybrid chemical environment. The atomic composition estimated from the XPS of the typical sample was found to be almost B1C1N1. NEXAFS spectra of the B K-edge and the N K-edge had the peaks due to the π* and σ* resonances of sp2 hybrid orbitals implying the existence of the sp2 hybrid configurations of h-BCN around the B atoms. The G band at 1592 and D band at 1352 cm-1 in the Raman spectra also suggested the presence of the graphite-like sp2-B-C-N atomic hybrid bonds. The films consisted of micrometer scale crystalline structure of around 10 μm thick has been confirmed by the field emission scanning electron microscopy.