STRESS ANALYSIS IN CUBIC BORON NITRIDE FILMS BY X-RAY DIFFRACTION USING sin2 ψ METHOD

The boron nitride (BN) films containing cubic boron nitride (c-BN) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) were prepared by radio frequency a ssisted thermal filament chemical vapor deposition. The stress and strain in BN films were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis using the sin2 ψ method. The results showed that both c-BN and h-BN in the same film have similar values of elastic strain, however, the compressive stress in c-BN is much greater than that in h-BN for the same film. Both stress and strain gradually decre ased with the increase of substrate temperature (Ts). The effective stress in the films calculated by the effective stress model increased with the increase of Ts. Furthermore, the dependence of effective stress in the films on Ts was also investigated.