Adhesion improvement of cubic boron nitride films by in situ annealing

Effects of in situ annealing on adhesion and structure of thick and highly crystallized cubic boron nitride films deposited by bias assisted dc jet plasma chemical vapor deposition were investigated. Improvement of adhesion by in situ annealing was observed. The full width at half maximum of Raman and X-ray diffraction peaks decreased after in situ annealing. The calculated crystal size increases from 18.4 to 27.2 nm after in situ annealing at 1060–1100 °C. Thick and highly crystallized cubic boron nitride films were obtained by combining our growth process and the in situ annealing.