Abstract: Boron nitride(BN) thin films were prepared on the (100) -oriented surface of n-Si(0.008～0.02 Ω·m) by means of R.F. magnetron sput tering physical vapor deposition(PVD). There are only two absorption peaks of h- BN at about 1 380 cm^-1 and 780 cm^-1 in Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the BN thin films. The field emission characteristic s of BN thin films were measured in a super high vacuum system. It has been foun d that the field emission characteristics of BN thin films depended evidently on substrate bias. The threshold electric field increases first and then decreases with substrate bias increasing. The lowest threshold electric field is 8 V/ μm for the BN film deposited at a substrate bias of -140 V, respectively. It ha s been shown that electrons are emitted from BN thin film to vacuum tunneling th rough the potential barrier at the surface of BN thin film under exterior el ectric field by Fowler-Nordheim (F~N) plots.

Key words: boron nitride thin film, field emission, substrate bias, roughness