Borazine Promoted Growth of Highly Oriented Thin Films

We report on a phenomenon, where thin films sputter deposited on single-crystalline Al2O3(0001) substrates exposed to borazine-a precursor commonly used for the synthesis of hexagonal boron nitride layers -are more highly oriented than those grown on bare Al2O3(0001) under the same conditions. We observed this phenomenon in face-centered cubic Pd, body-centered cubic Mo, and trigonal Ta2C thin films grown on Al2O3(0001). Interestingly, intermittent exposure to borazine during the growth of Ta2C thin films on Ta2C yields better crystallinity than direct deposition of monolithic Ta2C. We attribute these rather unusual results to a combination of both enhanced adatom mobilities on, and with, surfaces to borazine during the deposition. We expect that our approach can potentially help improve the crystalline quality of thin films deposited on a variety of substrates.

Automated summary

We report a phenomenon in which thin films sputter deposited on single-crystalline Al2O3(0001) substrates exposed to borazine show higher orientation compared to those grown on bare Al2O3(0001). This was observed in Pd, Mo, and Ta2C thin films grown on Al2O3(0001). Interestingly, intermittent exposure to borazine during the growth of Ta2C thin films leads to better crystallinity than direct deposition. We attribute these results to enhanced adatom mobilities on, and with, surfaces to borazine during deposition.