Superhard materials in the B/C/N system and modern micro system technology: synergistic effects

Diamond-like materials from the B/C/N system (e.g. diamond, tetrahedral amorphous carbon, cubic boron nitride (c-BN)) possess a great number of outstanding properties. Accordingly, they are very promising candidates for applications as active or passive layers in modern micro or nano systems, e.g. in probes for scanning probe microscopies (SPM). On the other hand, specially designed micro systems, in general, and SPM techniques especially, may help to overcome current problems in the optimization of existing thin films from the B/C/N system and in developing new ones by providing new techniques of material characterization, in the ideal case in situ during deposition. Therefore, synergistic effects may come into play, leading to a mutual improvement of both, the thin films and their properties, and the micro or nano systems. Although this ideal case has not yet been reached for films from the B/C/N system, we will present examples from our current research, which may eventually help to reach this aim. Fabrication of all-diamond tips and cantilevers for AFM applications, and of humidity sensors including carbon nitride films show the applicability of thin B/C/N films in micro systems, while the in situ characterization of diamond nucleation and growth by STM measurements and the measurements of the stress of c-BN films by micromachined silicon cantilevers demonstrate the usefulness of material characterization by modern micro systems.