First part of the thesis is focused
on experimental preparation of new hard quaternary amorphous materials
Si-B-C-N
with high thermal stability. Materials were prepared in the form of
thin films
using reactive magnetron sputtering. The
technique used proved to be suitable for
reproducible synthesis of these materials. The Si-B-C-N films were
generally
found to be amorphous with low compressive stress and good adhesion to
silicon
or glass substrates. The process and film characteristics were
controlled by
varying the sputter target composition, the Ar fraction in the N2–Ar
gas mixture, the negative rf-induced substrate bias, and the substrate
temperature. Main conclusions describe the relationships between
process parameters,
discharge and deposition characteristics and film properties (elemental
composition, chemical bonding structure, material hardness, compressive
stress
or electrical conductivity of materials
prepared).
Second part of
the thesis is focused on ab-initio simulations of
structures of experimentally prepared Si-B-C-N materials. In the
performed
liquid-quench simulations, the Kohn-Sham equations for the valence
electrons
are expanded in a basis of plane wave functions, while core electrons
were
represented using Goedecker-type pseudopotentials. We simplified the
ion
bombardment process by assuming that the primary impact creates a
localized
molten region of high temperature and sufficiently short cooling time,
commonly
referred to as a thermal spike. Main conclusions deal with N2
formation in studied materials, effect of implanted Ar on structure and
properties of prepared materials, ability of Si to relieve that part of
compressive stress which is caused by implanted Ar, and ability of B to
improve
thermal stability of Si-B-C-N materials. The calculated results are
compared
with experiment.