Pulsed laser deposition of boron nitride thin films

The presence of a hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) phase in pulsed laser deposition PLD BN thin films has been evidenced by Raman spectroscopy, TEM and AFM measurements. The films have been deposited by means of PLD technique, fixing the laser fluence value at 1.35 J cm(-2), at the substrate temperature T-s = RT and T-s = 600 degrees C. The effect of the substrate temperature on the structural and morphological properties was investigated. A 1:1 stoichiometry is always maintained in all the grown films even if, increasing Ts, the nitrogen content decreases and the prevalence of the metallic boron phase is evident. In particular, the results show that the substrate temperature has no influence on the h-BN phase.