Correlation between plasma parameters, microstructure and optical properties of sputtering magnetron CNx films

Evolution of the opto-electronic properties of amorphous carbon films as a function of nitrogen incorporation

“…The large changes of the electronic properties of carbon nitride films can be connected to the ability of nitrogen to bond to C in diverse ways; which include the sp 3 (tetrahedral, C-N), sp 2 (trigonal, C = N) and the chain terminating sp 1 linear (-C ≡ N and -N ≡C bonds) [7,8]. A general picture is that the electrical properties of amorphous carbon (a-C) films, whether hydrogenated or not, are dominated by π states of sp 2 -hybridized carbon atoms because the σ states of sp 2 -and sp 3 -hybridized carbons are further away from the Fermi level and the Csp 2 clusters control the opto-electronic properties [9][10][11][12].…”

Effect of Nitrogen Plasma Afterglow on Amorphous Carbon Nitride Thin Films Deposited by Laser Ablation

“…the protective overcoat layer for magnetic thin-film rigid disks [17,18]. These interesting properties seem to be attributed to the bonding state of a-CN x films and their specific microstructure, which depends strongly on the deposition conditions, and may contain different configurations of bonds (sp 1 , sp 2 and sp 3 ) [19][20][21][22]. Therefore, studying the structural characteristics of these films is highly important to understand their physical properties.…”

Spectroscopic investigation of the physicochemical origin of the spontaneous delamination of the sputtered amorphous carbon nitride films

“…The absorption lying between 900 and 1800 cm À1 can be resolved into sub-bands at 1220, 1400, 1570 and 1650 cm À1 . The peak around 1220 cm À1 can be attributed to sp 3 C-N bonds, while the peak around 1650 cm À1 can be assigned to C5 5N double bonds [15][16][17][18]. The m-odes at 1400 and 1570 cm À1 are a purely electronic effect [16,17].…”

“…The microscopic origin of these mechanical properties seems to be attributed to their specific microstructure, which contains different configuration of the C-N bonds (sp 1 , sp 2 and sp 3 ) [15][16][17][18]. These structural paratmeters are also known to depend strongly on the deposition conditions [15,16,18]. Therefore, the structural integrity and reliability of these films appear to be a great challenge.…”

“…The films were grown by varying the nitrogen partial pressure (NPP) ratio in the Ar/N 2 sputtering gas 0-100% with a total discharge pressure of 1 Pa and at value of the RF power about 150 W. The distance between the two electrodes was kept constant at 7 cm. More details about the technique and the plasma parameters can be found elsewhere [18]. The thickness h of the deposited films was determined using a Dektak 3 ST profilometer.…”