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2015 (English)Manuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
Abstract [en]
Boron-carbon (BxC) thin films are potential neutron converting layers for 10B-based neutron detectors. However, as common material choices for such detectors do not tolerate temperature above 500°C, a low temperature deposition route is required for this application. Here we study trimethylboron B(CH3)3 (TMB) as a single-source precursor for the deposition of BxC thin films by plasma CVD using Ar plasma. The effect of plasma power, TMB/Ar ratio and total pressure on the film composition, morphology and structure are investigated. The highest B/C ratio of 1.9 was achieved at high TMB flow in a low total pressure and high plasma power which rendered an approximate substrate temperature of ~ 300 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that B-C bonds prevail in the films, although C-C and B-O bonds are also present. Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of amorphous carbon phases in the films. The H content in the films is found to be 15±5 at. % by the time of flight elastic recoil detection analysis (Tof-ERDA). The film density as determined from X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements is 2. 16 ± 0.01 g/cm3 and the internal compressive stresses are measured to be less than 400 MPa.
National Category
Physical Sciences Chemical Sciences
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-123908 (URN)
2016-01-132016-01-132021-12-29Bibliographically approved