Boron titanium carbide, reaction

Research-grade material may be prepared by reaction of pelleted mixtures of titanium dioxide and boron at 1700°C in a vacuum furnace. Under these conditions, the oxygen is eliminated as a volatile boron oxide (17). Technical grade (purity > 98%) material may be made by the carbothermal reduction of titanium dioxide in the presence of boron or boron carbide. The endothermic reaction is carried out by heating briquettes made from a mixture of the reactants in electric furnaces at 2000°C (11,18,19). 

Numerous ceramics are deposited via chemical vapor deposition. Oxide, carbide, nitride, and boride films can all be produced from gas phase precursors. This section gives details on the production-scale reactions for materials that are widely produced. In addition, a survey of the latest research including novel precursors and chemical reactions is provided. The discussion begins with the mature technologies of silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, and silicon nitride CVD. Then the focus turns to the deposition of thin films having characteristics that are attractive for future applications in microelectronics, micromachinery, and hard coatings for tools and parts. These materials include aluminum nitride, boron nitride, titanium nitride, titanium dioxide, silicon carbide, and mixed-metal oxides such as those of the perovskite structure and those used as high To superconductors. 

Another example of surface-dependent (selective) deposition is amorphous boron carbide on titanium and molybdenum surfaces. Nucleation on the titanium surface is much faster than on molybdenum and so is isonucleation or growth, with the result that boron carbide under certain reaction conditions will grow on titanium but not on molybdenum if they are both present in the reactor. 

In the past, different routes have been utilized to produce dense B4C-TiB2 composite materials, differing in starting powder mixtures. Two main methods can be distinguished (i) to use B4C and TiB2 and (ii) to make use of the reactions building up the final components of boron carbide and titanium diboride. 

The co-depositing material for reactive deposition can be from a second sputtering target. However, it is often in the form of a chemical vapor precursor, which is decomposed in a plasma and on the surface. Chemical vapor precursors are such materials as acetylene (C2H2) or methane (CH4) for carbon, silane (SiH4) for silicon, and diborane (B2H6) for boron. This technique is thus a combination of sputter deposition and PECVD and is used to deposit materials such as carbides, borides, and silicides. It should be noted that co-deposition does not necessarily mean reaction. For example, carbon can be deposited with titanium to give a mixture of Ti + C but the deposit may contain little TIC. 

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