Residual compressive stress and intensity of infrared absorption of cubic BN films prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Theoretical and experimental investigations on the dependence of the intensity of infrared (IR) absorption of polycrystalline cubic boron nitride thin films under the residual compressive stress conditions have been performed. Our results indicate that the intensity of the IR absorption is proportional to the total degree of freedom of all the ions in the ordered regions. The reduction of interstitial Ar atom concentration, which causes the increase in the ordered regions of cubic boron nitride (cBN) crystallites, could be one cause for the increase in the intensity of IR absorption after residual compressive stress relaxation. Theoretical derivation is in good agreement with the experimental results concerning the IR absorption intensity and the Ar interstitial atom concentration in cubic boron nitride films measured by energy dispersion X-ray spectroscopy. Our results also suggest that the interstitial Ar is the origin of residual compressive stress accumulation in plasma enhanced cBN film deposition.