Stability of Boron Nitride X-Ray Masks with Synchrotron Exposure Sources

AT&T Bell Laboratories has shown that high quality X-Ray mask membranes can be fabricated from hydrogen-doped boron nitride films deposited upon silicon substrates by a low pressure CVD process. This paper will outline the fabrication process used to prepare the boron nitride X-Ray mask membranes and will detail how optimum X-Ray, optical, and mechanical properties of these films can be simultaneously obtained. Typical intrinsic material properties that have been obtained are compared with those reported for boron-doped single crystal silicon X-Ray mask membranes in Table I and Figure I.