A. Vonrichthofen et al., PREPARATION OF A NEW TETRAGONAL COPPER OXYNITRIDE PHASE BY REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING, Thin solid films, 317(1-2), 1998, pp. 282-284
Cu-O-N layers were deposited on Si-[100] wafers at a temperature of 90
degrees C in a reactive magnetron sputtering ion plating system (R-MS
IP). For this, a Cu-target was sputtered by a nitrogen/oxygen plasma,
and the influence of the oxygen partial pressure on composition, struc
ture, and texture of the Cu-O-N layers was investigated. The analyses
of the films with EPMA, XRD, and HEED yielded the following results: w
ith an appropriate setting of the oxygen partial pressure, the oxygen
content of the Cu-O-N layers could be controlled between 2.4 and about
50 at. %. Structure analyses have shown changes in the crystal struct
ure of the films with increasing oxygen and decreasing nitrogen conten
t from the simple cubic (sc) structure of Cu3N, followed by a two phas
e region, where the sc structures of Cu3N and Cu2O appear, to a single
phase film with the sc structure of Cu2O. With an oxygen content of 4
3.6 at. % a new Cu-O-N phase with the tetragonal structure of paramela
conite (approximate to Cu122+Cu4+O14) and the composition Cu27O22N was
grown. The film with an oxygen content of about 50 at. % consists of
monoclinic CuO. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.