Boron trifluoride BF3 has been applied as precursor for PECVD of boron nitride BN thin films.(with H2, N2 as co-reactants; N2 /H2 flow ratio film properties). Film growth rate increased with temperature and saturated at high plasma power. Films deposited on crystalline substrates contain cubic and hexagonal phases, according to XRD and FTIR. Refractive index (n=1.63–1.77) and film thickness were determined by ellipsometry; optical gap varied from 5.0 to 5.6 eV depending on the preparation conditions. [[i]]
[i] J. M. Mendez, S. Muhl, M. Farias, G. Solo, L. Cota-Araiza, Surf: Coat. Technol. 1991,41,422; “Preparation of cubic boron nitride films by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of BF3, N2 and H2 gas mixtures”
Boron tribromide BBr3 has been applied for the CVD growth of B2O3 – containing cladding layers in the optical fibers with GeO2-P205-SiO2 core and uniform GeO2-B20 3-P205 -SiO2 [[i] ]
[i] Y. Ohmori, Applied Optics, Vol. 20, Issue 24, pp. 4307-4312 (1981). “Transmission bandwidth properties of GeO2-P2O5-doped silica graded-index optical fibers”. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/AO.20.004307