Magnetron sputtered carbon nitride: composition and chemical bonding of as-grown and post-annealed films studied with real-time and in situ diagnostic techniques
M. Gioti et al., Magnetron sputtered carbon nitride: composition and chemical bonding of as-grown and post-annealed films studied with real-time and in situ diagnostic techniques, SURF COAT, 125(1-3), 2000, pp. 289-294
We prepared CNx films by reactive r.f. magnetron sputtering from a graphite
target in a pure N-2 plasma, with different substrate bias voltages (V-b)
We studied the optical properties of CN, films by using the in situ spectro
scopic ellipsometry (SE) in the energy region 1.5-5.5 eV. The differences i
n compositional and bonding configuration between CNx films, provided by th
e SE data analysis, are discussed and correlated with the results obtained
by Fourier Transform IR SE (FTIRSE) measurements. Postgrowth annealing expe
riments were performed in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber, up to 900 deg
rees C. The film modifications and the nitrogen evolution, were monitored i
n real-time using an ultra-fast 16-wavelength ellipsometer and a quadropole
mass spectrometer (QMS). In situ SE and FTIRSE measurements were also obta
ined on the completion of annealing. The nitrogen evolution is correlated w
ith the carbon-nitrogen bonding and the compositional modifications in the
films, as derived by FTIRSE and SE. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All righ
ts reserved.