Influence of Deposition Temperatures on Bonding State and Microstructure of Carbon Nitride Thin Films Prepared by Ion-Beam-Assisted Deposition

Abstract

The influences of the deposition temperature on bonding states and microstructures of carbon nitride films prepared by ion-beam-assisted deposition are analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). FT-IR absorption spectra exhibit a peak corresponding to the C≡N bond and its population decreases with the deposition temperature. N 1s peaks in XPS spectra indicate the existence of two different N 1s bonding states, one attributed to nitrogen inserted into the graphitic ring structure, and the other attributed to nitrogen surrounded by three carbons in the C–N network. The increase of the deposition temperature leads to the formation of the C–N cluster similar to the highly disordered turbostratic structure. In C–N film growth, however, the sequential phase transformation from sp 2 -bonded phases to sp 3 -bonded phase frequently observed in BN film deposition is not found in TEM analyses.