SURFACE-MORPHOLOGY OF NITROGEN-DOPED TETRAHEDRAL AMORPHOUS-CARBON FILMS ON SILICON BY ATOMIC MICROSCOPY IMAGING

The results of studies of the surface morphology of nitrogen doped tet rahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films with atomic force microscopy (A FM) are reported. The films were prepared by filtered are deposition ( FAD). N is introduced into the films during growth by injecting N-2 ga s into a plasma stream formed by a carbon cathode vacuum are. AFM reve aled that the surface on formed films is uniform and smooth on the nan ometerscale and the root-mean-square roughness of the films surface is calculated to be approximately 0.23-0.26 nm. The influence of N dopin g on the surface morphologies of ta-C films are discussed. (C) 1998 El sevier Science B.V.