Nitrogen incorporation in carbon nitride films produced by direct and dual ion-beam sputtering

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2081112· OSTI ID:20714135

Abrasonis, G; Gago, R; Jimenez, I; Kreissig, U; Kolitsch, A; Moeller, W ^[1]

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1. Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research, Forschungszentrum Rossendorf, PF-510119, 01314 Dresden (Germany)

Carbon (C) and carbon nitride (CN{sub x}) films were grown on Si(100) substrates by direct ion-beam sputtering (IBS) of a carbon target at different substrate temperatures (room temperature-450 deg. C) and Ar/N{sub 2} sputtering gas mixtures. Additionally, the effect of concurrent nitrogen-ion assistance during the growth of CN{sub x} films by IBS was also investigated. The samples were analyzed by elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) and x-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES). The ERDA results showed that significant nitrogen amount (up to 20 at. %) was incorporated in the films, without any other nitrogen source but the N{sub 2}-containing sputtering gas. The nitrogen concentration is proportional to the N{sub 2} content in the sputtering beam and no saturation limit is reached under the present working conditions. The film areal density derived from ERDA revealed a decrease in the amount of deposited material at increasing growth temperature, with a correlation between the C and N losses. The XANES results indicate that N atoms are efficiently incorporated into the carbon network and can be found in different bonding environments, such as pyridinelike, nitrilelike, graphitelike, and embedded N{sub 2} molecules. The contribution of molecular and pyridinelike nitrogen decreases when the temperature increases while the contribution of the nitrilelike nitrogen increases. The concurrent nitrogen ion assistance resulted in the significant increase of the nitrogen content in the film but it induced a further reduction of the deposited material. Additionally, the assisting ions inhibited the formation of the nitrilelike configurations while promoting nitrogen environments in graphitelike positions. The nitrogen incorporation and release mechanisms are discussed in terms of film growth precursors, ion bombardment effects, and chemical sputtering.

• OSTI ID: 20714135
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 98; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ABSORPTION
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
CARBON
CARBON NITRIDES
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
DEPOSITION
ION BEAMS
ION MICROPROBE ANALYSIS
NITROGEN
NITROGEN IONS
PRECURSOR
SPUTTERING
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THIN FILMS
WORKING CONDITIONS
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY