Carbon nitride films deposited by very high-fluence XeCl excimer-laser reactive ablation

We report the characteristics of CN films deposited by excimer laser ablation of graphite targets in low pressure N x 2 atmosphere. We used a XeCl laser ls308 nm, t FWHMs30 ns.at the fluence of 32 Jrcm2 ;1 GWrcm2. and repetition rate of 10 Hz. Substrates were Si 111:single crystals at room temperature. Different diagnostic techniques wscanning electron microscopy SEM., Rutherford backscattering spectrometry RBS., X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy XPS., Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FT-IR.x were used to characterise the deposited films. Films are plane and adhesive to their substrates. Deposition rates vary from ;0.25 to ;0.025 A°rpulse, decreasing with increasing N2 ambient pressure 0.5–100 Pa.. NrC atomic ratios vary from 0.2 to 0.45, as inferred from RBS measurements. Raman spectroscopy evidences a prevalent amorphous structure of the films at low ambient pressures and a dominance of crystallites at high ambient pressures. XPS results show that N atoms are mainly bonded to C atoms in the sp2 and sp3 bonding states. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.