Boron doped diamond-like carbon (B-DLC) film was synthesized on silicon (1 00) wafer by biased target ion beam deposition. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is employed to investigate the microstructure of the B-DLC thin film in cross-sectional observation. Many crystalline nanoparticles randomly dispersed and embedded in the amorphous matrix film are observed. Through chemical compositional analysis of the B-DLC film, some amount of O element is confirmed to be contained. And also, some nanoparticles with near zone axes are indexed, which are accordance with B2O phase. Therefore, the contained O element causing the B element oxidized is proposed, resulting in the formation of the nanoparticles. Our work indicates that in the B-DLC film a significant amount of the doped B element exists as boron suboxide nanoparticles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.