Effect of moisture in a vacuum chamber on the deposition of c-BN thin film using an unbalanced magnetron sputtering method

The role of moisture remaining inside the deposition chamber during the formation of the cubic boron nitride (c-BN) phase in BN film was investigated. BN films were deposited by an unbalanced magnetron sputtering (UBM) method. Single-crystal (001) Si wafers were used as substrates. A hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) target was used as a sputter target which was connected to a 13.56 MHz radiofrequency electric power source at 400 W. The substrate was biased at -60 V using a 200 kHz high-frequency power supply. The deposition pressure was 0.27 Pa with a flow of Ar 18 sccm - N₂ 2 sccm mixed gas. The inside of the deposition chamber was maintained at a moisture level of 65% during the initial stage. The effects of the evacuation time, duration time of heating the substrate holder at 250°C as well as the plasma treatment on the inside chamber wall on the formation of c-BN were studied. The effects of heating as well as the plasma treatment very effectively eliminated the moisture adsorbed on the chamber wall. A pre-deposition condition for the stable and repeatable deposition of c-BN is suggested.