ORIGINAL PAPER Chemical interactions in the layered system BC x N y /Ni(Cu)/Si, produced by CVD at high temperature P. S. Hoffmann & M. I. Kosinova & S. Flege & O. Baake & B. Pollakowski & V. A. Trunova & A. Klein & B. Beckhoff & F. A. Kuznetsov & W. Ensinger Received: 9 March 2012 / Revised: 27 May 2012 / Accepted: 28 May 2012 / Published online: 13 June 2012 # Springer-Verlag 2012 Abstract Layered samples Si(100)/C/Ni/BC x N y and Si (100)/C/Cu/BC x N y were produced by physical vapor deposition of a metal (Ni, Cu, resp.) and low-pressure chemical vapor deposition of the boron carbonitride on a Si(100) substrate. Between the Si and the Ni (Cu) and on the surface of the Ni (Cu) layer, thin carbon layers were deposited, as a diffusion barrier or as a protection against oxidation, respectively. Afterwards, the surface carbon layer was removed. As precursor, trimethylamine borane and, as an auxiliary gas, H 2 and NH 3 were used, respectively. The chemical compositions of the layers and of the interfaces in between were characterized by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry com- bined with near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The application of H 2 yielded the BC x N y compound whereas the use of NH 3 led to a mixture of h-BN and graphitic carbon. At the BC x N y /metal interface, metal borides could be iden- tified. At the relatively high synthesis temperature of 700 °C, broad regions of Cu or Ni and Si were ob- served between the metal layer and the substrate Si. Keywords Boron carbonitride/metal/silicon-layered system . Interfaces . Near-edge X-ray absorption fine-structure spectroscopy . X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy . Secondary ion mass spectroscopy Introduction BC x N y can be seen as a hybrid of the isoelectronic carbon and boron nitride. The two phases, hexagonal (h-BC x N y ) and cubic (c-BC x N y ), therefore can be clas- sified between graphite (semimetallic) and h-BN (insu- lating) or between diamond and c-BN (both superhard), respectively. h-BC x N y probably has a honeycomb struc- ture and an energy band gap smaller than that of h-BN; it is a new semiconducting material which possesses varying band gaps related to the different elemental compositions. c-BC x N y is predicted as a material with varying superhard properties [1, 2]. As an analogy to h-BN [3, 4], h-BC x N y could be applied in metal-insulating-semiconductor memory diodes, X-ray lithography masks, and UV light-emitting diodes. Further- more, BC x N y was tested to be a better diffusion barrier for Ag and Cu in comparison to SiOC [5]. The same group described the possibility to fabricate the next-generation large-scale integration device system on the basis of BC x N y and Cu [6]. In addition, the orientation of h-(sp 2 -)-BCN on Ni(111) was studied [7]. The goal of this paper was to test in an initial attempt which interactions can be observed between the substrate Si and the metallic layer (Ni or Cu) and between the metallic layer and the dielectric layer BC x N y , respectively. P. S. Hoffmann (*) : S. Flege : O. Baake : A. Klein : W. Ensinger Department of Materials Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Petersenstr. 23, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany e-mail: dg7j@ca.tu-darmstadt.de M. I. Kosinova : V. A. Trunova : F. A. Kuznetsov Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS, Acad. Lavrentyev Pr. 3, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia B. Pollakowski : B. Beckhoff Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Abbestr. 2-12, 10587 Berlin, Germany Anal Bioanal Chem (2012) 404:479–487 DOI 10.1007/s00216-012-6177-2