BAND GAP SHIFT DUE TO NITROGEN DOPING, COMPOSITION GAS PRESSURE AND MICROWAVE POWER OF a-C:N THIN FILMS GROWN BY NEWLY-DEVELOPED SURFACE WAVE MICROWAVE PLASMA CVD

Abstract

This paper reports the band gap shifting due to nitrogen ( N 2) doping, microwave power and composition gas pressure of nitrogenated amorphous carbon ( a - C : N ) thin films deposited by newly-developed surface wave microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (SWMP-CVD). Results show that the optical band gap decreased from 4.1 eV to 2.4 eV corresponding to the increase of N 2 doping from 0 to 5% in the gas ratio. However, further increase of N 2 doping beyond 5% did not decrease the band gap. It was found that composition gas pressure and launched MW power during film deposition also largely control the optical band gap. Investigation of annealing effects on optical band gap and film thickness of the N 2 doped films revealed that both band gap and film thickness decrease significantly with increase of annealing temperature. The optical band gap decreased from 2.4 eV to 1.1 eV, while film thickness decreases from 320 nm to 50 nm corresponding to 200 to 400°C annealing temperature. The results revealed that the properties of a - C : N can be tuned by changing the annealing temperature, composition gas pressure and microwave power of the SWMP-CVD system.