CHARACTERIZATION OF HARD AMORPHOUS-CARBON FILMS IMPLANTED WITH NITROGEN-IONS

Hard amorphous hydrogenated carbon films (a-C: H) and nitrogen-doped hydrogenated carbon films (a-C: H(N)) deposited by self-bias glow discharge have been implanted with 70 keV nitrogen ions at fluences of 0.6 and 2.0 x 10(17) ions/cm2. The implanted films were characterized by nuclear techniques (Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, nuclear reaction and elastic recoil detection analysis), Auger electron spectroscopy and Raman scattering. ERDA profiles show that nitrogen implantation produces a hydrogen-depleted layer. A study of the hydrogen loss as a function of deposition parameters (self-bias voltage, partial pressure of nitrogen) and ion fluence was made. A nitrogen depletion was also determined for the a-C: H(N) films. Auger spectroscopy, using factor analysis, and Raman scattering give some insights about the correlation between the energy loss mechanism of nitrogen ions and structural modifications.