Fabrication and Surface Analysis of Boron Carbide Thin Films by Electron Beam Evaporation

Boron carbide thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates by using electron beam evaporation. Subsequently, the film samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The surface morphology was analyzed with atomic force microscope (AFM). The results of XRD show that the crystallization of the boron carbide thin films meliorate gradually with increasing substrate temperature and crystalloid of the boron carbide thin films are got at more than 150 degrees C of the substrate temperature. The results of XPS show that the films' surface chemistry component is mostly B4C, and the boron carbide thin film's chemistry component and structural characteristic are obtained by XPS. The charts of AFM show that the thin films are compact and smooth, the RMS roughness of the boron carbide thin film rises gradually with increasing substrate temperature.