Investigation of the thermal stability of nitrogen-rich amorphous carbon nitride films

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 377; pp. 148 - 155
• Main Authors: Kulisch, W, Popov, C, Zambov, L, Buliř, J, Delplancke-Ogletree, M.P, Lančok, J, Jelı́inek, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2000
• Subjects: Annealing; Carbon nitride; Inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition; Pulsed laser deposition; Annealing; Pulsed laser deposition; Inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition; Carbon nitride
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/S0040-6090(00)01315-8

The thermal stability of nitrogen-rich amorphous carbon nitride films (N/C≥1) is investigated from room temperature up to 600°C. The films were deposited by three different methods, namely pulsed laser deposition (PLD), inductively coupled plasma chemical vapour deposition (ICP-CVD) with gaseous precursors, and ICP-CVD utilizing transport reactions. As-deposited and annealed films were characterized with respect to their thickness, composition and bonding structure by a variety of methods including wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis (WDX), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Annealing at 200°C leads to desorption of surface contaminants while in the range between 200 and 400°C a significant densification is observed. Above 400°C a drastic loss of film material, especially nitrogen-rich groups, sets on, leading to the total destruction of the films at 600–700°C. These observations are compared with the annealing behaviour of films with lower nitrogen content.