Characterization of DC Magnetron Sputtering Plasma Used for Deposition of Amorphous Carbon Nitride

Journal Article · Mon Dec 04 04:00:00 EST 2006 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2405920· OSTI ID:20898788

Camps, Enrique; Escobar-Alarcon, Luis ^[1]; Lopez, J; Zambrano, G; Prieto, P ^[2]

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1. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, Apdo. Postal 18-1027, CP 11801 Mexico DF (Mexico)
2. Universidad del Valle, Cali (Colombia)

Amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) thin films are attractive due to their potential applications, in different areas. This material can be hard and used as a protective coating, or can be soft and porous and used as the active element in gas sensors, it can also be used as a radiation detector due to its thermoluminescent response. The use of this material for one or another application, will depend on the material's structure, which can be changed by changing the deposition parameters. When using the d.c. magnetron sputtering technique it means mainly the change of discharge power, type of Ar/N2 gas mixture, and the working gas pressure. The variation of these deposition parameters has an important influence on the characteristics of the plasma formed in the discharge. In this work we studied the plasma characteristics, such as the type of excited species, plasma density, and electron temperature under different deposition conditions, using Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES), and a single Langmuir probe. These parameters were correlated with the properties of a-CNx films deposited under those characterized regimes, in order to establish the role that the plasma parameters play on the formation of the different structures of CNx films.

• OSTI ID: 20898788
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 875; ISSN APCPCS; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CARBON NITRIDES
DEPOSITION
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY
LANGMUIR PROBE
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
POROUS MATERIALS
RADIATION DETECTORS
SPUTTERING
THIN FILMS