In addition, the diffractogram in Figure show two broad peaks: a first order diffraction at 2 =33.5° and a second at 2 =70.5°. Furthermore, GID in Figure and φ-scans in Figure show peaks that are consistent with the formation of an epitaxial, twinned, cubic interlayer. A thin interfacial layer between 13-N semiconductor and ZrB2 that is typically referred to as ZrBxN1-x (with 0 < x < 1) has been reported for growth of AlN 20 and GaN on ZrB2 substrates. In these studies, it was determined from TEM that the ZrBxN1-x layer exhibited a NaCl type structure and was about 2 nm thick after 1 min exposure to NH3 at 400 °C and about 9 nm thick after 1 min exposure at 1100 °C. In the present study, on the 2θ/ω diffractogram in Figure , a broad peak is observed at around 33°, whose position is in agreement with the (111) planes of the ZrBxN1-x phase observed in the aforementioned reports. The formation of a zirconium-containing cubic material with the NaCl structure (such as ZrB, ZrN, ZrC, ZrO or solid solutions of these phases) is further supported by both GID and φscans, which suggest the epitaxial relationships with respect to ZrB2. Additionally, φscans show twinning of the cubic phase, which is expected from the higher symmetry of the hexagonal phases (ZrB2, 4H-SiC). It is not possible to confirm the composition and the location of this cubic phase from thin film XRD techniques; nevertheless, the broadening and intensity of the (111) peak in the 2θ/ω diffractogram are consistent with the formation of a layer that is around 10 nm thick. Figure shows an overview TEM image of the sample 1 structure in cross-section, r-BN is found to grow on ZrB2 to an average thickness of about 10 nm beyond which epitaxial growth is either maintained over 80 nm or evolves to first turbostratic BN and then amorphous BN. Figure directions, respectively. EELS areal maps and line profiles (Figure ) confirmed that these inclusions are boron deficient and incorporate carbon and nitrogen. These inclusions will be referred to as ZrBxCyNz .