Carbon nitride films prepared by rf magnetron sputtering were characterized
by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrosco
py and grazing-incidence X-ray reflectivity. In these films, nitrogen atoms
were found to be bound with sp(3), sp(2) and sp hybridized carbon and abou
t 30% of the C-N solid may have C3N4 structure. The nitrogen to carbon rati
os (NIC) of the film, sp(3) and sp(2) C-N phases were similar to0.17, 1.05
and 0.26, respectively. The density of the films was about 1.9 g cm(3). The
N/C and density of the films only slightly decreased and increased, respec
tively, with increasing the substrate temperature. The analysis of the anne
aled samples indicated that these films had a good thermal stability. (C) 2
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