Properties and preparation conditions of carbon nitride thin films deposited by laser CVD Original Research Article

Amorphous CNx thin films with x up to 1.1 were obtained by ArF excimer laser chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from NH3CCl4 or cyanogen azide NCN3 as precursors in the substrate temperature range of 200–650 °C. The films are optically transparent and electrically insulating. Depending on the preparation conditions their Tauc gap varies between 1.4 and 3.1 eV. The X-ray photon spectroscopy C 1s and N 1s peaks reveal two bonding states of carbon and nitrogen in the bulk, respectively. When heated to 450 °C the CNx films start to decompose into HCN, (CN)2 and N2 to completely vanish at 700 °C.