P. Wood et al., INFLUENCE OF REACTANT GAS-COMPOSITION ON SELECTED PROPERTIES OF N-DOPED HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-CARBON FILMS, Thin solid films, 258(1-2), 1995, pp. 151-158
We report a study of N-doped hydrogenated amorphous carbon films depos
ited using the r.f. (13.56 MHz) self-bias method. While maintaining a
constant r.f. power density (3.2 W cm(-2)), total feed-gas flow rate (
45 sccm), initial substrate temperature (87 degrees C), and deposition
gas pressure (69 mu bar), we examined the effect of changing the nitr
ogen-to-carbon ratio (0.0-4.8) in the feed gas on the film properties:
specifically the resistivity, compressive stress, Knoop microhardness
, density, index (eta) of refraction and chemical composition of the f
ilm. As the N-to-C ratio in the feed gas was increased from 0.0 to 4.8
, up to 15.6 at.% N was incorporated in the film. Nitrogen substituted
for carbon and hydrogen in the amorphous matrix and the hydrogen cont
ent decreased from similar to 16.6 to 10.0 at.%. Fourier transform IR
spectra of the films showed an increasing concentration of nitrogen-co
ntaining functional groups (-NH and nitrile) in the film as the nitrog
en concentration [N] in the film increased. At [N] between 0 and 2 at.
%, no significant change was seen in eta, mechanical properties or ato
m number density rho(N) but the resistivity decreased fifty- to eighty
-fold. At [N] > 2 at.%, dramatic reductions were seen in the hardness,
stress, rho(N), eta and resistivity. Over the entire doping range, th
e resistivity of the films decreased nearly 6000-fold, while the intri
nsic stress decreased 56% and hardness was reduced by 52%. The change
in resistivity at high [N] appears more correlated with hydrogen loss
and enlargement of graphitic microclusters induced by nitrogen ion bom
bardment during film growth rather than with the N content in the film
.