Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) thin films are deposited by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Effects of heat treatment and source gases on the structure and physical properties are investigated. Chemical bonding is analyzed in comparison with the better understood isoelectronic carbon compound, graphite. It seems that the basic difference between h-BN and graphite arises from the different electronegativities of boron and nitrogen atoms. Optical absorptions in UV-visible range for crystalline and amorphous structures are outlined. The expressions used for the evaluation of mechanical stress induced in thin films are derived. The deposited films are considered to be turbostratic as they do not exhibit the characteristic optical absorption spectra of a crystal. A new system, stylus profilometer, is implemented and installed for thin film thickness and mechanical stress measurements. Hydrogen atom density within the films, estimated from FTIR spectroscopy, is found to be a major factor affecting the order and mechanical stress of the films. Heat treatment of the films reduces the hydrogen content, does not affect the optical gap and slightly increases the Urbach energy probably due to an increased disorder. Increasing the nitrogen gas flow rate in the source gas results in more ordered films. The virtual crystal of these films is detected to be unique. Relative bond concentrations of the constituent elements indicate a ternary boron-oxygen-nitrogen structure. The physical properties of h-BN such as high resistivity and wide band gap seem suitable for optoelectronic applications such as gate dielectrics in thin film transistors and light emitting devices in the blue region.

The further developments in nanotechnology in last few years provide usage of nanoscale particles for many applications in various areas such as electronics, pharmaceutical, and biomedical due to their strengthened mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Boron nitride nanotubes are a good example of nanoparticles. In this study, boron nitride nanotubes were successfully synthesized from the reaction of ammonia gas with mixture of boron and iron oxide. Physical and structural properties of the synthesized materials were determined by X-Ray Diffraction, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Experiments were conducted in a tubular furnace at different temperatures and also at different weight ratios of boron to iron oxide. Qualitative chemical analysis of the reactor effluent stream was carried out using a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer analysis of the reaction products proved formation of nitrogen in addition to hydrogen and water during the reaction of ammonia gas with the mixture of boron and iron oxide. XRD results showed that hexagonal and rhombohedral boron nitrides and cubic iron were the solid phases formed in the product. FTIR and XPS results also indicated the presence of boron nitride and the atomic ratio of boron to nitrogen was compatible with the chemical stoichiometric relation between boron and nitrogen. It was observed that the crystanility of the product increased with an increase in temperature. The diameter of the produced nanotubes varied from 64 nm to 136 nm. The synthesized nanotubes exhibited Type II isotherms. The surface areas of the produced boron nitride nanotubes decreased with a decrease in both temperature and the weight ratio of boron to iron oxide. The best temperature and weight ratio of boron to iron oxide to produce boron nitride nanotubes were found to be 1300&deg / C and 20, respectively.

In today&amp / #8217 / s market conditions, higher tool life and durable cutting tools which can stand high cutting speeds are required in chip removal process. In order to improve the performance of cutting tools, coatings are employed extensively. Cubic boron nitride (cBN) is a new kind of coating material for cutting tools due to its outstanding properties and testing of cBN as a hard coating for machining have been increasing in recent years. However, there are some challenges such as compressive residual stress, poor adhesion and limiting coating thickness during the deposition of cBN on substrates. In this study, cubic boron nitride (cBN) coatings are formed on cutting tools from hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) target plates. For this purpose, a physical vapor deposition (PVD) system is utilized. PVD system works on magnetron sputtering technique in which material transfer takes place from target plate to substrate surface. Firstly, cBN coatings are deposited on steel and silicon wafer substrates for measurements and analyses. Compositional, structural and mechanical measurements and analysis are performed for the characterization of coatings. Next, several types of cutting tools are coated by cBN and the effects of cBN coatings on cutting performance are investigated. Finally, it can be said that cubic boron nitride coatings are successfully formed on substrates and the improvement of wear resistance and machining performance of cBN coated cutting tools are observed.

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) formation by carbothermic reduction of B2O3 under nitrogen atmosphere at 1500&deg / C and effect of CaO addition into the initial B2O3 &amp / #8211 / active C mixture were investigated during this study. Reaction products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and quantitative chemical analysis. Main aim of this study was to investigate the presence of a second reaction mechanism that catalytically affects h-BN formation during CaO or CaCO3 addition into the initial mixture. It was found that similar to CaCO3 addition, CaO addition has a catalytic effect on carbothermic formation h-BN. In order to investigate the reaction mechanism experiments with B2O3 &amp / #8211 / CaO mixtures without active carbon addition into the mixture were conducted. Furthermore nucleation of h-BN from calcium borate melts had been investigated and experiments were conducted with h-BN addition into CaO &amp / #8211 / B2O3 mixtures. It was concluded that nucleation of h-BN in calcium borate slags under experimental conditions is not possible. Hexagonal BN should be present in the system in order to activate the second nitrogen dissolution followed by h-BN precipitation mechanism. Highest efficiency was achieved in the experiment conducted with CaCO3 addition and largest particle size was observed during the experiment conducted to investigate the effect of nucleation.

Effect of Na2CO3 on formation of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) by carbothermic method has been studied by subjecting B2O3-C and Na2CO3-added B2O3-C mixtures to N2 (g) atmosphere. Na2CO3 amount in the mixtures was changed in the range of 0-40 wt. %. Time and temperature were used as experimental variables. Reaction products were analyzed by XRD and scanning electron microscope. Na2CO3 was found to increase both the amount and the particle size of h-BN similar to CaCO3 [1]. Na2CO3 was found to be less effective than CaCO3 in increasing the amount while it was more effective than CaCO3 in increasing the particle size of h-BN forming.

Boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs), firstly synthesized in 1995, are structural analogues of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with alternating boron and nitrogen atoms instead of carbon atoms. Besides their structure, mechanical and thermal properties of BNNTs are very similar to the remarkable properties of CNTs. However, BNNTs have higher resistance to oxidation than CNTs. Also, BNNTs are electrically isolating. Therefore, they are envisioned as suitable fillers for the fabrication of mechanically and thermally enhanced polymeric composites, while preserving the electrical isolation of the polymer matrix. In this study, polypropylene (PP) &ndash / boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) composites were prepared using a twin-screw extruder. Mechanical and thermal properties of PP&ndash / BNNT composites were investigated as a function of nanotube loading. The nanotubes used in the composites were synthesized from the reaction of ammonia gas with a powder mixture of elemental boron and iron oxide. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the predominant hexagonal boron nitride in the synthesized product. Multi-wall nanotubes with outer diameters ranging from 40 to 130 nm were observed with SEM and TEM analyses. Tensile testing of PP&ndash / BNNT composites revealed slight increases in the Young&rsquo / s modulus and yield strength of neat PP with 0.5 and 1 wt% of the as-synthesized BNNT additions. On the other hand, due to the agglomeration of BNNTs, elongation at break and tensile strength values of composites decreased with increasing nanotube content. In the case of using 0.5 wt% loading of purified and then surface modified BNNTs, slight improvement in all mechanical properties of neat PP was achieved. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis revealed a noticeable increase in the crystallization temperature of BNNT&ndash / added composites. Coefficient of linear thermal expansion (CLTE) of polymeric composites were studied and no significant change in the CLTE of neat PP was observed with the addition of BNNTs. Results of thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) indicated improvements in the thermal stability of neat PP with BNNT additions.

Carbothermic production of hexagonal BN by using boric acid and ground colemanite mined from Bigadi&ccedil / Region in Turkey was investigated by subjecting pellets prepared from B2O3, activated carbon and colemanite mixtures to nitrogen gas at 1500&deg / C. Similar to CaCO3 addition, colemanite addition to the B2O3-C mixtures resulted in higher amounts of h-BN in the final products. As a result of the experiments conducted with colemanite and CaCO3 additions providing the same quantity of CaO to the initial mixtures, similar amounts of hexagonal BN in the reaction products were observed. As a result of the experiments conducted with different compositions of colemanite- B2O3- C mixtures, 5 wt % colemanite addition was determined to be the optimum composition giving the highest amount of hexagonal BN in the reaction products. Increasing duration of the experiments increased the amount and particle size of h-BN formed in the products. Optimum amount of colemanite addition resulted in higher amounts and coarser particles of h-BN in the products than the optimum amounts of CaCO3 addition.

III-nitrides are a promising material system with unique material properties, which allows them to be utilized in a variety of semiconductor devices. III-nitrides grown by NH3-MOMBE are typically grown with high carbon levels (> 1021 cm-3) as a result of the incomplete surface pyrolysis of the metal-organic sources. Recent research has involved the compensating nature of carbon in III-nitrides to produce semi-insulating films, which can provide low-leakage buffer layers in transistor devices. The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of forming a 2DEG, which utilizes the highly carbon-doped GaN layers grown by NH3-MOMBE to produce low-leakage buffer layers in the fabrication of HEMTs. These low leakage GaN buffers would provide increased HEMT performance, with better pinch-off, higher breakdown voltages and increased power densities. Additionally, methods of controlling and/or reducing the incorporation of carbon will be undertaken in an attempt to broaden the range of possible device applications for NH3-MOMBE. To realize these transistor devices, optimization and improved understanding of the growth conditions for both GaN and AlGaN will be explored with the ultimate goal of determining the feasibility of III-nitride transistors grown by NH3-MOMBE.

High quality nanophotonic structures fabricated on silicon nitride substrates and operating in the visible range of the spectrum are investigated. As most biological sensing applications, such as Raman and fluorescence sensing, require visible light pumping and analysis, extending the nanophotonics concepts to the visible range is essential. Traditionally, CMOS compatible processes are used to make compact silicon nanophotonics structures. While the high index contrast of silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers offer a high integration capability, the high absorption loss of silicon renders it unusable in the visible range. In this research high quality factor microdisk and photonic crystal resonators and high resolution arrayed waveguide grating and superprism spectrometers are fabricated and characterized in the visible range and integrated with fluidic structures and their application in biosensing and athermal operations is investigated.

The need for post-CMOS nanoelectronics has led to the investigation of innovative device structures and materials. Graphene, a zero bandgap semiconductor with ballistic transport properties, has great potential to extend diversification and miniaturization beyond the limits of CMOS. The goal of this work is to study the growth of graphene on SiC using the novel method of selective graphitization. The major contributions of this research are as follows - First, epitaxial graphene is successfully grown on selected regions of SiC not capped by AlN deposited by molecular beam epitaxy. This contribution enables the formation of electronic-grade graphene in desired patterns without having to etch the graphene or expose it to any detrimental contact with external chemicals. Etching of AlN opens up windows to the SiC in desirable patterns for subsequent graphitization without leaving etch-residues (determined by XPS). Second, the impact of process parameters on the growth of graphene is investigated. Temperature, time, and argon pressure are the primary growth-conditions altered. A temperature of 1400oC in 1 mbar argon for 20 min produced the most optimal graphene growth without significant damage to the AlN capping-layer. Third, first-ever electronic transport measurements are achieved on the selective epitaxial graphene. Hall mobility of about 1550 cm2/Vs has been obtained to date. Finally, the critical limitations of the selective epitaxial graphene growth are enumerated. The advent of enhanced processing techniques that will overcome these limitations will create a multitude of opportunities for applications for graphene grown in this manner. It is envisaged to be a viable approach to fabrication of radio-frequency field-effect transistors.