Identification of ternary boron–carbon–nitrogen hexagonal phases by x-ray absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

3 pages, 3 figures.-- PACS: 68.55.Nq; 61.10.Ht; 78.70.DmBoron carbon nitride (BCN) films have been grown by B4C evaporation with concurrent N ion assistance, and have been characterized by x-ray absorption near edge (XANES) spectroscopy. Upon the nitrogen insertion, the film structure evolves from BxC-like to h-BN-like. The hexagonal structure corresponds to a true ternary BCN compound that can be understood as h-BN with carbon incorporated in substitutional sites. The C(1s)XANES presents (pi*) states characteristic of the BCN arrangement. The basal planes of the h-BCN phase are oriented perpendicular to the substrate, as derived from the angle dependence of the XANES signal.This work has been partially financed under CICYT project MAT99-0830 and by the BRITE-EURAM contract BRPR-CT97-0487. The synchrotron work was performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Science. The authors also acknowledge financial support from the Spanish MEC.Peer reviewe