Elastic modulus of amorphous boron suboxide thin films studied by theoretical and experimental methods

Boron suboxide BOx thin films have been deposited on Si (100) by reactive rf magnetron sputtering of B powders in an Ar/O2 atmosphere. Elastic recoil detection analysis and x-ray diffraction were used to study the influence of the O incorporation on the film composition and structure and relate them to mechanical properties, which were evaluated by nanoindentation. As x in BOx was increased from 0.08 to 0.18, the elastic modulus of the x-ray amorphous films decreased from 273 to 231 GPa, by 15%. This can be understood using classical molecular dynamics (MD) with a Buckingham-like interaction potential: The increase in the O concentration and corresponding formation of B–O bonds, shown to be longer than the B–B bonds, resulted in larger ionic contributions as well as a density reduction. This increased ionicity was responsible for the observed decrease in elastic modulus. As even more O was incorporated (x>0.18), the H concentration increased, exceeding 0.3 at. %. This may cause the formation of boric acid (H3BO3) as a result of the chemical reaction with H2O upon atmosphere exposure. The presence of van der Waals and hydrogen bonding, associated with H3BO3 formation, provides a reasonable explanation for the extensive decrease in elastic modulus from 231 to 15 GPa, by 94%. The parameterization for the Buckingham-like interaction potential, introduced in this study, can be used for MD simulations of amorphous BOx systems without H3BO3.