Atomic force microscopy study of hexagonal boron nitride film growth on 6H-SiC (0001)

Abstract

The growth of hexagonal Boron Nitride films (h-BN) on 6H-SiC (0001) using plasma-excited borazine has been studied. On 6H-SiC (0001), the growth of pin-hole free, compact h-BN film is difficult due to poor wetting properties between h-BN and 6H-SiC. The strained BN layer releases its elastic energy by a morphological instability at the interface. This strain relief mechanism gives rise to a buckling of the film into longitudinal islands and round trenches between 500-700°C. At 300 and 900°C however, the strained islands can attain their minimum-energy size to form homogeneously-sized spherical islands with diameter of ∼500 nm. Compositional analysis of the BN films grown at 900°C using XPS shows that these are actually BC xN film with x ∼ 0.15, whereas the films grown at 300°C have less carbon incorporation but higher O content. © 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.