Effects of Sputtering Pressure on Cu₃N Thin Films by Reactive Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

Copper nitride thin films were prepared by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering at different sputtering pressures with fixed nitrogen to argon ratio. The influences of sputtering pressure on the structure, optical band gap, and surface morphology of films were investigated. The results show that the preferential orientation of polycrystalline Cu3N thin films changes from [111] to [100] when the sputtering pressure increases. Meanwhile, the optical band gap (Eg) of Cu3N thin films increases with the sputtering pressure. The surface morphology of Cu3N thin film deposited at high sputtering pressure becomes smoother than that of Cu3N thin film deposited at low sputtering pressure.

Strain Effects by Surface Oxidation of Cu3N Thin Films Deposited by DC Magnetron Sputtering

“…Various methods have been employed to obtain copper nitride films, such as RF-sputtering [5][6][7][8][9], RF-plasma chemical reactor [10], reactive pulsed laser deposition [11], and activated reactive evaporation [12]. Despite the promising properties of Cu 3 N, large discrepancies reported in the literature about its measured physical properties have hampered the implementation of reliable technological devices.…”