Effects of heat treatment on amorphous carbon nitride prepared by reactivemagnetron sputtering

The amorphous CNx powders were prepared by reactive DC magnetron sputtering . Based on the DTA-TG analysis, a characteristic temperature (1440 degrees C) was determined at which heat treatment was employed to crystallize the a morphous powders. Subsequent structural and compositional analysis were car ried out on the heat-treated samples by using XRD, scanning Auger. The powd er diffraction pattern revealed that alpha-C3N4 is the main crystalline the rmodynamically stable phase in the predicted crystalline carbon nitrides. N ano crystallites were observed with compositions very close to that of the C3N4 crystal. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.