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Alkylboranes, such as trimethylboron (TMB) and triethylboron (TEB), are promising alternative precursors in low temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron-containing thin films. In this study, CVD growth of B-C films using TMB and quantum-chemical calculations to elucidate a gas phase chemical mechanism were undertaken. Dense, amorphous, boron-rich (B/C 1.5-3) films were deposited at 1000 degrees C in both dihydrogen and argon ambients, while films with crystalline B4C and B25C inclusions were deposited at 1100 degrees C in dihydrogen. A script-based automatization scheme was implemented for the quantum-chemical computations to enable time efficient screening of thousands of possible gas phase CVD reactions. The quantum-chemical calculations suggest TMB is mainly decomposed by an unimolecular alpha-H elimination of methane, which is complemented by dihydrogen-assisted elimination of methane in dihydrogen.

Boron carbon (BxC) thin films are potential neutron converting layers for B-10-based neutron detectors. However, as common material choices for such detectors do not tolerate temperatures above 500 degrees C, a low temperature deposition route is required. Here, we study trimethylboron B(CH3)(3) (TMB) as a single-source precursor for the deposition of BxC thin films by plasma CVD using Ar plasma. The effect of plasma power, TMB/Ar flow ratio and total pressure, on the film composition, morphology, chemical bonding, and microstructures are investigated. Dense and boron-rich films (B/C = 1.9) are achieved at high TMB flow under a low total pressure and high plasma power, which rendered an approximate substrate temperature of similar to 300 degrees C. Films mainly contain B-C bonds with the presence of B-O and C-C, which is attributed to be the origin of formed amorphous carbon in the films. The high H content 15 +/- 5 at. %) is almost independent of deposition parameters and contributed to lower the film density (2.16 g/cm(3)). The plasma compositional analysis shows that the TMB molecule decomposes to mainly atomic H, C-2, BH, and CH. A plasma chemical model for the decomposition of TMB with BH and CH as the plausible film depositing species in the plasma is proposed.

We present triethylboron (TEB) as a single-source precursor for chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of BxC thin films and study its gas phase chemistry under CVD conditions by quantum chemical calculations. A comprehensive thermochemical catalogue for the species of the gas phase chemistry of TEB is examined and found to be dominated by beta-hydride eliminations of C2H4 to yield BH3. A complementary bimolecular reaction path based on H-2 assisted C2H6 elimination to BH3 is also significant at lower temperatures in the presence of hydrogen. Furthermore, we find a temperature window of 600-1000 degrees C for the deposition of X-ray amorphous BxC films with 2.5 less than= x less than= 4.5 from TEB. Films grown at temperatures below 600 degrees C contain high amounts of H, while temperatures above 1000 degrees C result in C-rich films. The film density and hardness are determined to be in the range of 2.40-2.65 g cm(-3) and 29-39 GPa, respectively, within the determined temperature window., Funding Agencies|European Spallation Source ESS AB; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; German Science Foundation (Research Training Group 1782); Beilstein Foundation (Frankfurt/Germany)

Boron-carbon (BxC) thin films are potential neutron converting layers for 10B-based neutron detectors. However, as common material choices for such detectors do not tolerate temperature above 500°C, a low temperature deposition route is required for this application. Here we study trimethylboron B(CH3)3 (TMB) as a single-source precursor for the deposition of BxC thin films by plasma CVD using Ar plasma. The effect of plasma power, TMB/Ar ratio and total pressure on the film composition, morphology and structure are investigated. The highest B/C ratio of 1.9 was achieved at high TMB flow in a low total pressure and high plasma power which rendered an approximate substrate temperature of ~ 300 °C. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that B-C bonds prevail in the films, although C-C and B-O bonds are also present. Raman spectroscopy confirms the presence of amorphous carbon phases in the films. The H content in the films is found to be 15±5 at. % by the time of flight elastic recoil detection analysis (Tof-ERDA). The film density as determined from X-ray reflectivity (XRR) measurements is 2. 16 ± 0.01 g/cm3 and the internal compressive stresses are measured to be less than 400 MPa.