Synthesis and structure of nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon thin films prepared by a pulsed filtered vacuum arc deposition

Nitrogenated tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) thin films have been prepared by a pulsed filtered vacuum arc deposition system at various conditions. The chemical composition and structure of the ta-C:N films were investigated by Non-Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, Raman, and Fourier transform infrared transmission measurements. It was observed that the amount of N atoms incorporated into the ta-C:N films, as well as the fraction and size of the sp(2) clusters, increased with increasing nitrogen pressure during deposition. On the other hand, the substrate negative bias voltage has different effects on the composition and structure of the films. The N content initially rises with increasing substrate negative bias voltage and then starts to decrease as it is further increased, while the sp(2) fraction increases monotonically with the increase of negative bias voltage. No or very few CdropN bond exists in the films. With increasing N content the components of the single C-N and disorder activated C-C diminish. The compressive stress in the films is found to decrease sharply with the increase of nitrogen content, and then keep almost constant when the N content is increased further. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.