THE INFLUENCE OF COMPRESSIVE STRESS ON THE FORMATION OF CUBIC BORON NITRIDE THIN FILM

The elastic strain energy and Gibbs free energy of cubic BN (cBN) thin film in biaxial stress field are calculated. The results show that the stress in cBN thin films has an impact on the formation of cubic phase. It is concluded that the high compressive stress in the cBN thin films is not the cause of cBN formation. This conclusion is different from that predicted by compressive stress model; however, it could well account for the experimental results. At a given substrate temperature, there is a compressive stress threshold, below which cBN phase is thermodynamically stable and above which hexagonal BN(hBN) phase is thermodynamically stable. At room temperature the compressive stress threshold is calculated to be 9.5 GPa.