Nitrogen implantation effects on the chemical bonding and hardness of boron and211 boron nitride coatings

摘要

Boron nitride (BN) coatings are deposited by the reactive sputtering of fully211u001edense, boron (B) targets utilizing an argon-nitrogen (Ar-N(sub 2)) reactive gas 211u001emixture. Near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure analysis reveals features of 211u001echemical bonding in the B 1s photoabsorption spectrum. Hardness is measured at 211u001ethe film surface using nanoindentation. The BN coatings prepared at low, sputter 211u001egas pressure with substrate heating are found to have bonding characteristic of a 211u001edefected hexagonal phase. The coatings are subjected to post-deposition nitrogen 211u001e(N(sup +) and N(sub 2)(sup +)) implantation at different energies and current 211u001edensities. The changes in film hardness attributed to the implantation can be 211u001ecorrelated to changes observed in the B 1s NEXAFS spectra.