UV laser photodeposition of carbon nitride thin films from gaseous precursors

We report on the synthesis of carbon nitride thin films using ArF excimer l aser (lambda = 193 nm) irradiation of acetylene and ammonia gaseous mixture s. The influence of the precursor composition on the nitrogen incorporation in the films was investigated by different techniques, namely X-ray photoe lectron spectrometry (XPS), low-energy electron induced X-ray spectrometry (LEEIXS) and IR spectrometry. Scanning electron microscopy was used to char acterise the microstructure of the deposited films. As shown by XPS the N/C atomic ratio varies by changing the precursor composition and reaches a ma ximum of 0.75 for a flow rate ratio NH3:C2H2 = 5:1. Nitrogen as revealed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) is single or double chemica lly bonded to carbon. The morphology of the deposited films investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) depends also on the deposition paramete rs. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.