Bonding structure of carbon nitride films deposited by reactive plasma beam sputtering

This work is devoted to the study of the reactive plasma beam sputtering de position of carbon nitride thin films. To investigate the variations of the bonding structure, induced by modifying the main deposition parameters, a systematic characterization of the films by X-ray photoelectron spectroscop y (XPS) is performed. With increasing the nitrogen partial pressure, the de position rate and the nitrogen atomic fraction in the films increase, and t he valence band spectrum shape is modified. The curve fitting of the Cls an d N1s peak spectra shows that C and N atoms exhibit several chemical states , representative of different type of chemical bonds. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.