Study of TiN/BN bilayers produced by pulsed arc plasma

Bilayers of TiN/BN were produced by using a PAPVD (Plasma Assisted Physical Vapor Deposition) pulsed vacuum arc system. The equipment is formed by a reactor composed by a vacuum chamber with two face-to-face electrodes and an RLC circuit to produce the arc discharge. To obtain the BN coating a target of h-BN was used placed on the cathode and a substrates of silicon placed on the anode. The work gas was nitrogen at a pressure of 4.4×10⁻¹ mbar and a voltage of 240 V. In order to improve the adherence of the BN film, an interlayer of TiN was grown. In this case the chamber was filled with N₂ to produce the TiN coating, with a pressure of 1.7 mbar and a voltage of 300 V. By means of XRD (X-ray diffraction), the existence of TiN was determined finding different crystalline orientation in FCC phase. An FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) was employed to determine sp³/sp² bonding ratio in the BN film.By plotting I-V curves the electrical properties of the bilayer were studied, observing a semiconductor behavior and this result was compared to the silicon substrate without coating.