Mg‐Facilitated Growth of Cubic Boron Nitride by Ion Beam‐Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy. Issue 7 (2nd May 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Storm, David F.; Maximenko, Sergey I.; Lang, Andrew C.; Nepal, Neeraj; Feygelson, Tatyana I.; Pate, Bradford B.; Affouda, Chaffra A.; Meyer, David J.
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 16:Issue 7(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2022-05-02
• Subjects: cubic boron nitride -- diamond -- magnesium -- molecular beam epitaxy; Solid state physics -- Periodicals; 530.4105
• DOI: 10.1002/pssr.202200036
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6254

Abstract

Abstract : Trace amounts of Mg deposited on a diamond (100) substrate surface facilitate the growth of cubic boron nitride (c‐BN) by ion beam‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that films grown with Mg are cubic, while those without Mg are either hexagonal BN or lacking measurable cubic or hexagonal signatures. Initiating the growth with 0.005 monolayer equivalent of Mg is sufficient to yield epitaxial films with >99% c‐BN. Reflection high energy electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and X‐Ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicate the surface of the film to be sp 2 ‐bonded BN, consistent with the results of other groups. High‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals c‐BN with a high density of stacking faults and twinning. A model is proposed by which Mg locally diminishes the energy barrier to dissociation of the as‐deposited sp 2 ‐bonded BN, facilitating the nucleation of c‐BN. Abstract : Trace amounts of magnesium are found to facilitate the epitaxial growth of cubic boron nitride on diamond (100) by ion beam‐assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Deposition of a submonolayer of Mg is used to initiate the growth of a 16 nm‐thick, >99% phase‐pure film of c‐BN on diamond.