OPTICAL-EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY OF THE NITROGEN ARC IN AN ARC-HEATED BEAM SOURCE USED FOR SYNTHESIS OF CARBON NITRIDE FILMS

An exhaustive study of optical emission from a nitrogen are produced b y an are-heated beam source is reported. Atomic nitrogen emission line s in the spectral region provide unequivocal evidence that the are-hea ted beam source generates an appreciable flux of nitrogen atoms. Exper imental results show that the ratio of [N] to N-2 increased as the are pressure decreased. it is believed that this is because of the reduce d probability of recombination of [N] atoms. Using this are-heated bea m source for pulsed laser deposition (PLD) film growth, we have synthe sized carbon nitride and other nitride films with a high nitrogen cont ent. AES and XPS results indicate that composition ratios ([N]/[C]) in the deposited films were between 0.2 and 0.6. It has been considered that [N] atoms, rather than N-2 molecules in the are, are the most lik ely species responsible for the synthesis of nitride films.