The structure study of thin boron and silicon carbonitride films by diffraction of synchrotron radiation

Crystalline structure and phase composition of thin boron and silicon carbonitride films were investigated using diffraction of synchrotron radiation (SR). These films were synthesized by RPECVD using nontraditional volatile precursors. The diffraction measurements were performed at the station “Anomalous Scattering”, existed at the second canal of colliding electron–positron beam accelerator VEPP-3 of the Siberian center of SR (Institute of Nuclear Physics of SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia). The formation of polycrystalline novel phase not coinciding with known phases of boron carbide and boron nitride was observed in boron carbonitride films by diffraction experiments. The boron carbonitride films are not a mixture of boron carbide and boron nitride phases. We propose that these films are probably BCN phase. The X-ray diffraction and RHEED investigations revealed fine crystals of hexagonal Si3N4 phase in amorphous matrix of silicon carbonitride films.