Boron thin film deposition by using Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) technology T. Akan a, ⁎ , N. Ekem a , S. Pat a , U.G. Issever a , M.Z. Balbag a , M.I. Cenik a , R. Vladoiu b , G. Musa c a Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Physics Department, Eskisehir, Turkey b Ovidius University, Physics Department, Constanta, Romania c National Institute for Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics, Bucharest, Romania Received 11 November 2005; accepted 31 March 2006 Available online 27 April 2006 Abstract In this paper a new technology for boron thin film deposition is presented. The film in high vacuum conditions is condensing on the sample from the plasma state of the vapor phase of the anode material, generated by a Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA). Boron coating is one of the technologies recently considered to be of special interest due to the qualities of boron. The aim of this paper is to present the use of TVA technology for boron coating. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Thermionic Vacuum Arc; Boron; Thin film; AFM; High-resolution electron microscopy 1. Introduction Boron is one of the materials of interest for the coming years. Used up to now as a compounds element in a large number of chemicals or drugs, a growing interest for boron in order to be used as an element (atom) or simple diatomic compound (like boron carbide) can be observed. If we consider boron from its melting point of view, we can observe that boron is close to the refractory metals. Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA) is a new technology for thin film deposition [1–6]. One of the main advantages of this technology is the bombardment of the growing thin film just by the ions of the depositing film. Moreover, the energy of ions can be controlled. Due to the energetic incident ions, the obtained thin film is compact, with a roughness under a few nanometers and is nanostructured [7,8]. Few other technologies can com- pete with TVA thin film deposition of materials like C, W, Mo, Nb, Ta, Re, etc. The recently discovered superconductivity of magnesium diboride (MgB 2 ) has generated an increased interest for magnesium and boron processing [9]. From the fast growing papers on the magnesium diboride preparation technologies, co- evaporation method has been also mentioned [10]. Pure magnesium and boron were used as the evaporation sources. Magnesium was evaporated using a thermal heater and simultaneously, boron was evaporated using a deflected electron beam. The main advantage of this method is the fact that no post-processing such as high-temperature annealing is necessary [10]. The co-deposition of magnesium and boron using TVA technology instead of that one described in Ref. [10] might improve the quality of the superconductive magnesium diboride. Our expectation is based on the nanometric structure of the condensing films from TVA. So a better mixing of co- processed B and Mg is possible. In a previous study, the co- deposition of silver and carbon using TVA technology was presented [11]. As a first step in using TVA technology for superconductors, in this paper we report the deposition of boron thin film on various substrates. Materials Letters 61 (2007) 23 – 26 www.elsevier.com/locate/matlet ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 222 239 37 50; fax: +90 222 239 35 78. E-mail address: akan@ogu.edu.tr (T. Akan). 0167-577X/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2006.03.144