SEMICONDUCTING AMORPHOUS CAMPHORIC CARBON NITRIDE THIN FILMS

Amorphous carbon nitride (a-CNx) films have been deposited by pulsed laser deposition at 0.8 Torr nitrogen gas ambient with varying substrate temperature from 20 to 500°C. The effects of the substrate temperature and ambient nitrogen gas pressure on the surface morphology, composition, nitrogen content, structure, and electrical properties of the a-CNx thin films have been investigated. The deposited a-CNx films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-Visible transmittance, and four-probe resistance measurement. It is found that the amorphous structure of a-CNx films can be changed by the substrate temperature (ST) and the a-CNx films with high nitrogen content have relatively high electrical resistivity. Also, graphitization is found to cause the reduction of nitrogen content and changes in the bonding structure of nitrogen atoms in the films.