High pressure phases produced by low energy ion implantation with reference to cubic boron nitride

Cubic boron nitride (c-BN) is a high quality abrasive material with hardness second only to diamond and with good oxidation and solubility properties. A new ion plating technique using the helicon wave plasma source combined with electron beam evaporation has been developed for the large area, high rate deposition of this material. The apparatus is fitted with a multiwavelength in situ ellipsometer for monitoring growth. The optical properties of both c-BN and h-BN films have been measured in situ and the operating conditions which produce a high growth rate of c-BN have been determined. A simple model for the movement of boron through the system has been developed and compared to experiment.