Properties of amorphous carbon thin films with nitrogen incorporation by Aerosol-assisted CVD

In this experiment, a new deposition technique was employed to deposit and to dope the amorphous carbon (a-C). Nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (a-C: N) thin films were prepared by Aerosol-assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (AACVD) by varying the deposition time from 15 minutes to 60 minutes. The electrical and optical properties of deposited a-C: N thin films were characterized by current-voltage Solar Simulator system and UV-Vis-NIR spectroscope. Electrical characterization results in ohmic behavior with the optimum conductivity were indicated at sample deposited for 15 minutes. At visible range, the transmittance is high (above 80%) for sample deposited at 15 minutes and possess lower transmittance (60% to 85%) when deposition time increase up to 45 minutes. The absorption coefficient, α for a-C: N is reported to be ~x10⁵ cm^-1. From the atomic force microscope characterization, surface morphology and roughness value was measured.